California Girl
by puckleberry1607
Summary: Rachel is back, but she is totally different. with a new haircut and a new style, what trouble will she get into? and who will get into trouble with her? Faberry/Quick friendships. Puckleberry soon.
1. Coming home

Rachel Berry was back, back in Ohio, back in Lima. After the glee club had lost Nationals Rachel left with her mother and Beth and went to California, but it turned out life with her mother was not what she thought it would be and after a year she had returned to her personal hell on earth. However this time it was going to be different, Rachel had really changed in California. Gone were the polyester skirts and animal sweaters, now she wore denim shorts and singlet tops. Her long curly hair was now permanently straightened and she had a thick front fringe. So in exactly an hour when Rachel Berry walked back into William McKinley high school there was no way anyone was going to throw a slushie at her or call her man hands. She grabbed her stylish handbag (goodbye pink trolley bag hello friends?) she got into her car and drove back to school.

***

Noah Puckerman stood at his locker looking at photos of his baby girl when the hallway went quiet. He turned around to see the whole male part of the student body staring into Principal Figgins office.  
"What in the world are you fags looking at Karofsky?" he snarled at the hockey player.  
"G-G-Girl." The boy stuttered. Noah shook his head and walked away.  
"Bunch of queers." He said walking into the music room. Quinn and Finn already sat there.  
"What's up bro, baby mama?" he said giving Finn a high five and Quinn a kiss on the cheek. Since he and Quinn had given Beth to Miss Corcoran they had repaired their relationships with Finn. Quinn and Finn were dating again and Noah and Finn were back to playing Call of Duty every Friday like normal.  
"Don't call me that you enormous oaf" Quinn said smiling. "Did you get the photos from Shelby? Rachel wasn't in them this time." It was funny you would think that Quinn would have a problem with Rachel being around her baby when she wasn't but it actually made sleeping easier at night. Now she knew Rachel wasn't there it worried her.  
"Yeah I saw them. I wonder where Berry is then?"  
"Listen up guys I have a surprise for you all." Mr Shuester announced as the rest of the club filed in and took their seats.  
"Not another assignment Mr Shue the last one sucked." Santana said.  
"What's wrong with country?"  
"Did you even this to yourself just now?" Kurt asked. Mr Shuester shook his head.  
"OK regardless of our thoughts on country music this surprise is even better and should definitely be here by now." There was a soft knock on the door and Mr Shuester jumped up.  
"I bet it's a duck." Britt whispered. Mike laughed and Mr Shuester quietened them down.  
"OK DRUMROLL PLEASE….. Everyone RACHEL'S BACK!" he pulled the door opened and the gleek's mouths dropped open. Rachel wore a pair of short denim pants, with a white singlet and a white button up t-shirt open over the top. On her feet was a pair of black converse hi-tops. Mercedes and Brittany jumped out of their seats squealing. While Santana waved from the back, Kurt who was sitting next to her just glared. Mike, Matt and Finn strolled from their spots and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Quinn and Noah approached her unsure of what to say. Rachel could feel the awkward moment beginning to settle in and propelled herself at the blonde wrapping her arms around her neck. Quinn hugged her back thanking her softly.  
"Why are you back? What happened to California?" Santana asked.  
"I got in a fight with Shelby." Rachel answered.  
"What she wasn't paying all her attention to you?" Kurt said, his voice laced with venom.

The rest of the glee club turned on Kurt ready to defend Rachel but she beat them to it.  
"Kurt, seeing as though you're sitting up the back being the backstabber that you are I don't remember inviting you into this conversation. So you can just shut your mouth and go back to texting Jesse, yeah that's right Kurt I know exactly what went down between the two of you at Nationals." Everyone was shocked and Kurt's faced turned red.  
"Now, the reason why Shelby and I fought was in regards to Beth. I was putting a photo of you and Noah up in her room when Shelby told me to take it down saying she didn't need to know the two of you. I told her as a child who never knew what her mother looked like I thought it would be beneficial if Shelby knew where she came from and how beautiful her parents are. Shelby said how she didn't willingly give me up and it wasn't the same and how Quinn was a tramp and she didn't want Beth to know anything about you so I slapped her and she kicked me out."  
"You gave up your mother defending me after I was so horrible to you. Why?"  
"I would like to think if the situation was reversed you would do the same, besides maybe this time we can be friends." Quinn nodded and hugged the brunette girl; Noah grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "So enough about me, surely Mr Shuester has a glee assignment for us." The club groaned and Rachel looked around confused.  
"Shuester's been off his game since you left." Mercedes explained. Rachel cocked her perfectly waxed eyebrow at Mr Shuester.  
"It's true, apparently country isn't a good genre for this club."  
"Not right for any club" Matt muttered under his breath.  
"OK, OK, just sing anything you want this week. A welcome back to Rachel. Go all out, costumes, makeup, backup vocals, choreography. Have it ready for Friday." The bell rang and everyone filed out hugging Rachel. Soon it was just Finn, Noah, Quinn and Rachel left.  
"Thank you again. I would like to be friends with you. I don't really have any good girl friends anymore and even though we have had a pretty bad past maybe you could be it?"  
"I would love to be your friend. Almost as much as I would love some lunch right now. Anyone else coming." Quinn grabbed Finn's hand and the two ran out together.  
"They always like that now?" She asked Noah.  
"Always it sickens me. Maybe you can be my friend to Berry? Take away some of the awkwardness of Saturdays nights at Quinn's mums?" Rachel nodded and laughed before punching him on the arm.  
"Like what you have done with the hair Puckerman. Heaps better than the gay Mohawk you were sporting, or the shaved head." Noah had grown his hair out so it was short and cropped.  
"I like your hair to. California was good to you Berry." She smiled and twirled around.  
"I know."

The group of four sat down at a table for lunch when Finn and Noah asked what they wanted. Quinn and Rachel wanted a salad and a bottle of apple juice each.  
"Rabbit's" Noah muttered as he walked off with Finn to get it. Matt, Mike and Artie joined them in line and the girls from Glee sat down with Quinn and Rachel. It was all going great until they heard a squeal.  
"Get your hands off me KAROFSKY!" Rachel screamed. Puck and the rest of the boys dumped their trays and jumped over the barriers. They really didn't need to worry because by the time they reached the girls, Santana had hold of Karofsky while Rachel punched him. When Matt and Mike pulled the two girls away Noah made sure that Karofsky would never have children in his lifetime.  
"You don't touch her? Understand me. If I so much as have the idea you are thinking about Rachel Berry I will cut your weak ass attempt of a penis off got it?" Karofsky nodded wincing. Noah put his arm around Rachel and they whole group walked out of the Café.  
"You cool Rach?" Santana asked rubbing the smaller girls arm.  
"Yeah I'm fine, it wasn't that he was touching me so much, it was that Karofsky was touching me. Guys in California were heaps worse than that" she said shaking.  
"So Rachel, I hear you had a run in with my buddy Karofsky" Kurt said.  
"Buddy? Kurt what the hell are you talking about?" Rachel said back.  
"Well my boyfriend, Jesse, you know him anyway his mother owns the company Karofsky's father works for so now Karofsky does what I want when I want. Don't think by coming back Rachel that you are going to be the star again. I run this school now." The Gleeks just stood there unphased by the new attitude Kurt had taken on. Suddenly Rachel lunged at the well dressed boy and Noah and Matt barley managed to grab her in time.  
"Breathe" Noah whispered in her ear and he felt her relax. It didn't go unnoticed to the rest of the club who smiled to each other.  
"OK well I am out, I have a hot date with my boyfriend." Kurt said laughing.  
"Oh god. I need to go shopping. You girls in?" The rest of the girls nodded. "I will see you later Matt." The girls walked out and Noah looked at Matt.  
"What?"  
"What did Berry mean she will see you later."  
"We dance together. They started a hip hop class at the local dance school. She can pop and lock better than anyone."  
"Better than me?" Finn said. The boys laughed.  
"You can even walk. Can she dance better than you?" Noah asked Matt.  
"Yeah she can. Dude I can't even pop and lock people just assume, you know the skin colour."  
"Is she better than Mike?" Noah asked.  
"NO ONE IS BETTER THAN THE CHANGSTER" Mike yelled out popping and locking as they walked along.  
"I would say he is right except Rachel wears these tiny assed pants and she looks so hot. So she is totally better than the Chang."  
"Dude, I got to come to these classes." Noah muttered and the boys laughed. 


	2. Staying with Quinnie

**Thank you all for the reviews so far. I love it. Hope you like this chapter, but please tell me if you dont.  
xxx**

* * *

"So Quinn, how are you and Finn?" Rachel asked as her and Quinn walked around the shops. The other girls had since left and Rachel was expecting it to be awkward. It wasn't. She was actually having a lot of fun.

"Were good. After I had Beth Noah and I dated. I think it was to keep up with appearances. I didn't want to seem like a slut and kick him to the curb after I had his baby and he didn't want to make it seem like he only wanted me for the sex. It was my mother that told us to stop kidding ourselves. She sat us down one night and said she didn't want us to hurt each other. That's when I figured it out. I loved Finn, after everything I still loved him. So Noah and I talked to him the next day and he forgave us. We were friends for a few months and Noah and he spent every Saturday night at my mum's house. Then a couple of months ago, Noah flaked on us and Finn came over with movies and my favourite ice cream and I opened the door and he kissed me. We are stronger now than we are before. I think I have you to thank for that." Quinn smiled at Rachel.

"I swear to god Fabray if you say thanks to me again today I will punch you in the face." Quinn and Rachel began laughing until the other women in the shop looked at them strangely.

"Oh watch it man-hands. Violence against women?" Quinn said as she caught her breath. Rachel pretended to look hurt before giving Quinn the finger.

"So, you're living with your mum huh? How is that?" Rachel began twisting the small ring her own mother had given her around her pinkie finger.

"It's good. Better than before. It turns out; my mum is actually really fun without my dad around. We watch girly movies all the time and we bought every season of the shows my dad wouldn't let us watch. I actually can't believe how good Greys anatomy is, I don't understand why no one told me. We paint each other's nails and she braids my hair. We sing, we cook. It's just normal you know? Not a fake love like before. We actually show emotion now and I couldn't be happier. You should come and meet her. What are you doing tomorrow night?"

"Nothing my Dad's are leaving for Seattle on a business trip. Apparently me coming back didn't even slow down the business trips. I have been back for three weeks and they have already been on two." Rachel began looking through a clothing rack refusing to meet Quinn's eyes.

"Rach" Quinn said softly but the girl didn't answer her. "Rachel! RU-PAUL I SWEAR IF YOU DON'T LOOK AT ME RIGHT NOW I WILL THROW A SLUSHIE AT YOU!" Rachel looked up and Quinn smiled. "Kidding, come and stay with me. Until your dads get back. My mum won't mind and we have heaps of room."

"I couldn't impose for that long." Rachel said shaking her head. "But thank you."

"How long are they going for?" Quinn asked frowning.

"A month, it could get extended depends how long the contracts take."

"No your staying with me. I will talk to my mum tonight. Look Rach, I owe a lot of my happiness to you and I would like to be a good friend to you. In fact, I am fairly sure a FaBerry friendship would be the best one." Quinn said holding the shorter girls hand.

"FaBerry? That's kind of gay." Rachel said as her and Quinn walked out of the shop.

"Yeah well, everyone relationship needs a name. I have one for everybody. Puck plus Artie equals Party, they both love that one. Matt and Mike are Changford. Britt and San are Brittana, me and you are FaBerry, Finn and I are The Inn's and my absolute favourite Puckleberry."

"Do I even want to know when that last one was made up?" Rachel said shaking her head and looking at her watch. 5:30 it read. " I have to go to dance."

"He still loves you. You know that right and he wasn't going to dump you. He told me." Quinn said as she hugged Rachel.

"I know. I love him to. I always have. I will talk to my dad's about staying with you if you think that it will be ok."

"Of course it will be ok. My mum loves you."

"She doesn't know me?"

"I know. I was lying. Anyway you should get with Puck, then we could go on double dates and have a double wedding and our children could get married."

"Stop speaking. I am leaving you now." Rachel said pushing the blonde and walking away.

"Call me Bitch. Oh and Rachel, you know I am right." Quinn got in her car and watched Rach drive away. Fine if her two best friends were that stupid she would do whatever it took to get them together. She pulled her phone out and dialled Finn.

"Hey baby you with Puck?"  
"No." he answered.  
"Good. I want to talk to you about something. What do you think about getting Puckleberry back together.  
"Don't meddle in other people's business Quinn."  
"I am not meddling Finn, she is my best friend he is your best friend were dating. Besides they are both good looking Jews. Them not dating is like not kosher or some shit."  
"You realise that is offensive right?"  
"Shut up. Besides we have plenty of time to get them together. Rachel is staying with me for a month because her dads are out of town."  
"Do I have a say or are you going to meddle anyway."  
"I am not meddling and of course you have a say. But if you say no I close my legs for the rest of the year."  
"Meddle away my dear girl meddle away." Quinn smiled and hung up as she pulled up to her house. Stage two; Rachel moving in.

"Hey Mum, I'm home." Quinn called out.

"Hey muffin, I am in the kitchen." Quinn dumped her bags at the door and walked through to the kitchen. There she found her mother sorting out their desserts. Cookie dough, ice cream and every good piece of confectionary known to man.

"How would you feel about having to make a fourth bowl every night?" Quinn said looking at her mother. She was the spitting image of Isabella, and every night before Quinn went to sleep she woke up praying she would look like her mother when she was forty.

"I love you baby, but please tell me you aren't pregnant again." Her mother stopped making desert and looked at her daughter.

"Oh god Mum, of course not. I am talking about Rachel. Her dad's are away for a month and I don't want her to have no one to stay with. Come one Mum, it will be like having another child." They heard a key turn in the front door.

"I have another child. My grocery bills are going to go through the roof if I have another body here."

"Baby Mama? Mama?" Puck called. The truth was Quinn and Puck were closer than Finn and Puck and her mother loved Puck like the son she never had. So Puck was at their house every night around this time to watch Greys Anatomy and eat their food.  
"In the kitchen, lovely." Quinn's Mum called out. Puck walked in and kissed Quinn on the cheek.

"Isabella, may I say you look lovely this evening."

"You make me ill" Isabella said laughing. "A second ago you called me Mama. Besides I don't do younger men." She handed Puck a bowl. "Now get out of my kitchen before I kick you out of my house." Noah took a bowl and walked to the living room.

"Mum please Rach needs a place to stay."

"Of course she can stay I was only kidding Quinnie. Wait Rach as in Berry?"

"The one and only." Quinn said smiling at her mother. Quinn handed her mother her bowl.

"Oh we are definitely setting them up" Isabella said.

"My thoughts exactly Mama Goose, my thoughts exactly.

An hour later Rachel got home.

"Daddies I am home."

"Hello Darling, we are just packing are you sure you will be ok staying home for a month." Her daddy Jeffrey hugged her.

"Actually Daddy I found a place to stay. My friend Quinn said her mother would let me stay there."

"Are you sure you wouldn't be imposing?" her Father Stanford asked.

"I don't know Father. I planned on calling Quinn after I had a shower and checking, of course you could talk to Quinn's mother and check that it was ok with them."

"Ok dove, go and shower and we will order dinner. We are sorry Rachey cake but this trip was planned while you were still with that witch of a woman and we didn't think you would be back so soon. Of course we are happy you are back but there are just a few more months of business trips and then we won't have any for a couple of months." Her daddy hugged her and she nodded.

"I will go shower now." As she walked past her father he squeezed her arm and she knew that was all she was going to get. Stanford had been the most hurt by Rachel leaving. She was always his girl and the fact she went to live with her mother made him feel inadequate. Rachel had tried to explain this wasn't the fact but they both knew it would take a little while for him to heal.

20 minutes later Rachel was dressed and she dialled Quinn's number.

"Hey Fabray." Rachel said as Quinn answered.  
"'Sup Berry?"  
"Not much. Did you talk to your mum?"  
"Yeah she wants you to stay. She is actually pretty excited. She is setting up the guest bedroom to make it more homey."  
"tell her to stop. Don't go out of her way. I already feel like I am imposing."  
"Don't, she loves the house being full of people. Santana, Britt and Cedes have a room here and so do Finn and Noah. She likes decorating. Wait she wants to talk to you."  
"Hello Rachel darling."  
"Hi Mrs Fabray.  
"No sweetie, I'm not Mrs Fabray. That's my ex mother in law. You like every other one of Quinnie's friends can call me Mama"  
"Sorry. Thank you for letting me stay. I know it is an awfully long time, but I would like you to know it means a lot to Me."  
"It isn't a problem. I hear you need a home and I have an awfully large one for you to stay in. Besides now I have a new reason to go shopping tomorrow. Tell me dear what are your favourite colours?"  
"Yellow and pink." Rachel answered smiling. She really liked Quinn's mother.  
"Same as Quinn's. Ok well sweetheart. Quinn is having the day off tomorrow so if you put your fathers on I would like to have a chat with them. You could stay home tomorrow to and we will go and see Principal Figgins so they know I will be taking care of you for a little while. Pack some suitcases. There is a rule in my house. If you have any good movies, make up, magazines or clothing it all comes. Most of it stays too. I like to pawn Britt's nail polish and every single one of Santana's DVD's are here. Also anything that will make you feel at home love. Quinn says good night and she will see you tomorrow."  
"Thank you Mama. I will put my Daddies on now."  
Rachel took her phone to her dads and walked back upstairs to start packing. Her dads knocked on the door soon after.

"Come in." she called out throwing her DVD collection into a large suitcase. Her father walked into the room alone.

"She is a lovely woman and I see she told you the rules also." Her father said chuckling. "I am glad you are staying with her. She said you're playing hooky and going shopping tomorrow. So I put a thousand dollars in your account call me if you need anymore. Remember cookie I love you ok. Now there is some dinner downstairs but do you need help packing first?" Rachel nodded and her father began pulling out her yellow luggage set.

"Why do you have a yellow and a pink set?" he asked.

"daddy said it would be good to have two. I don't know why, he just wanted to spend more money on me but with Mama's rules I suppose it is a good idea." Rachel said upending her magazine drawer into her smaller pink bag.

"Mama?" Stanford asked.

"Oh Isabella told me that all of our friends call her that. I hope you don't mind."  
He walked over to Rachel and pulled her into a hug. He pulled away and kissed her forehead.

"Of course I don't cookie." He walked into her wardrobe and began to pull her clothes of the shelves. "this is going to take forever. Do you care if this stuff is folded neatly?" he asked her.

"No. I couldn't care less." Rachel said sticking her head around her wardrobe door.

"Good." He said and Rachel cracked up laughing as he pulled the shelf of the bracket and dumped all the clothing into the case at once.

An hour later they were done. The father and daughter stood looking at the amount of luggage Rachel was taking. Four extra large cases, two smaller ones. Three pull along hand bags. Five make up boxes, two jewellery boxes, six shoe boxes and four carry bags.

"Is this more than I took to Cali?" She asked her father. Her eyes not straying from the large amount of luggage in the middle of her disaster of a bedroom.

"yes about triple the amount. We make a great team this only took us an hour."  
"Yeah look at my room I won't be able to sleep in her.

"Jeff, pull the mattresses out, were having a slumber party." Stanford called downstairs. Rachel and Stanford cracked up when they heard the woohooing of the man downstairs. Stanford grabbed Rachel's hand and pulled her down the stairs. "Come one cookie."


	3. You have really cute hands

Rachel's fathers woke her up the next morning.

"Cookie, were leaving now. Isabella said to go over there whenever you are ready ok? Don't stay asleep to long it is already 8:30. We will call you when we land in New York ok? Ring us if you need us, we love you all right." Stanford said kissing Rachel on the cheek. Jeffery flicked the television onto MTV so there would be noise in the house before kissing Rachel on the forehead and locking the door on his way out.

An hour later Rachel woke up to the sound of Ushers 'OMG' playing from the television. She groaned and rolled over.  
"Damn you and your sexy abs Usher, I was having a nice dream." She hopped up from the mattress on the floor and walked into her bedroom. She showered and got dressed. Twenty minutes later Rachel was wearing a white singlet top with a yellow high waisted skirt and a yellow cardigan. She put a yellow headband in her hair and pulled on her yellow flats. She looked at herself in the mirror. She hadn't worn an outfit like that in months, but she felt it was important to make a good impression with the woman she was going to be living with for the next month.

"Oh my goodness, I look like a cross between Quinn and Miss Pillsbury." She looked at her watch; it was already 10:00 she should probably go. She noticed her fathers had already put her suitcases in her car so she locked up and drove to the Fabray's.

Rachel was at the Fabray's house twenty minutes later and she stared up at it in shock. Her house wasn't small by any means but Quinn and Isabella's house was like two of hers put together. She jumped out of her car and walked up the path. As she went to knock on the front door it opened and Noah stood on the other side, shirtless.  
"Berry" he smirked. Rachel tried not to look at his amazing AB muscles but it was impossible not to.

"Rachel!" Quinn screamed nearly bowling the girl over with a hug. Quinn looked at Rachel's outfit and laughed. "You outfit looks like a love child made by me and Miss Pillsbury. In a good way"

"Yeah well my dad's picked the outfit out. They wanted me to look presentable when I met your mother." They were joined by a woman with a short bob cut that looked exactly like Quinn. She was wearing a pair of pyjama pants and a tank top. She carried Noah's sweat shirt in her hands.

"You look lovely sweetheart, however if you don't want to wear that to the shops I would suggest getting changed." She handed Noah his sweatshirt. "Bags" Noah walked off to Rachel's car while the three women went to walk inside. Rachel giggled as she heard him groan.

The Fabray women walked Rachel through the house giving her a grand tour. She passed countless bedrooms. She remembered Quinn said something about every one having a place to stay at Mama's house the bedrooms must have belonged to the members of the glee club.

"This is your room, there is nothing in it yet of course because we're going to the shops once Noah has bought your bags from the car but Quinn's room is down the hall and Noah's is on the other side of the en suite, so you will have to share that but Noah doesn't sleep over that often. I hope that won't be a problem." Isabella said.

"It's fine. You shouldn't have gone to so much trouble, you are already doing me a huge favour" Rachel said. The older woman took the small girl into her arms.

"It's not a problem sweetheart. I just want you to feel comfortable staying here. Most of your bags would be down in the lounge room by now. Noah would be too lazy to bring them up the stairs, would you like to get something to wear and then we can head off to the shops." Rachel walked downstairs and sure enough every single one of her bags was in the middle of the lounge room floor. She opened the large pink one and pulled out a pair of white jeans and a white singlet, she got out a pink midriff top as well and a pair of pink sandals. She went into her new room and got changed and walked into the hallway right into Noah.

"OUCH!" she said from her spot on the floor. Noah chuckled and Rachel sent him a death glare.  
"Sorry Berry. I didn't see you." He pulled Rachel up off the floor. Her perfume flooded his brain and he had to take a

"Shouldn't you be somewhere?" she asked twisting her ring around her finger. He looked confused and tried to think about where he should be. "School Noah, shouldn't you be at school?" Noah laughed.

"Nah, Isabella told my mum she would need my help setting up your furniture and my mum was more than happy to give me the day off. She still thinks were going to get married." Rachel laughed and Noah shook his head thinking about his crazy mother. "So Rachel, you look good. I like this outfit a lot more than the other thing you were wearing before. It was too much like one of the outfits Miss Pillsbury would wear."

"Thanks." Rachel said walking away. She got to the stairs when she turned around and smiled at him. "I'll have you know, I actually think Emma, is pretty hot for a red head." She laughed as Noah groaned at the image in his mind.

Two hours later the two Fabray women walked around the mall happily. Meanwhile Rachel and Noah stood behind them scowling.

"I thought all women loved shopping Berry?" Noah said.  
"No, most women love shopping if they are allowed to eat whilst doing it, unfortunately the two blondes up ahead have us on a strict routine that involves starving us TO DEATH" Isabella giggled as Rachel yelled out, while Quinn looked bored.

"God Rachel, you sure do complain about nothing, why don't you and Noah go to the food court and Mum and I will meet you there when were done ok?" Quinn had hardly finished what she was saying when Rachel and Noah tore out of the furniture shop.

"I hope you know what she wants in her bedroom Quinn" Isabella said.  
"Yeah I got this; I also know that by the end of this week the two of them will be inseparable." Quinn laughed and her mother joined in.

"What do you want to eat Berry?" Puck asked as they looked around the food court. It was a Thursday in the middle of the week so there was hardly anyone there.

"I want a burger, and a really big coke. McDonalds?" Puck nodded and Rachel dragged him over to the food stand.

"Can I please have a 2 quarter pounders and 2 large cokes" Rachel said to the woman.

"Geez Berry, it is a bit early f or you to be ordering for me don't you think?" Noah teased.

"Did you want something else?" He shook his head and took the tray of food from her sitting down at the closest table.

"So Berry, tell me all about California."

_The day I got there it was boiling, hotter than any summer day in Lima. Shelby picked me up from the airport, while Beth was with my grandmother. We drove back to our house past all these beaches and there were people every where. You would have liked it Noah, no one wore shirts._

My first night there was pretty easy, I met my mother's family and I played with Beth. When my mum showed me my room, there was a whole new closet full of clothing. She changed who I was so I could start at a new school without getting teased.

The next morning I started at California State and I became friends with two girls Lindsay and Grace, they were basically carbon copies of Santana and Brittney. It was strange, people were jealous of me after a day of being at school. There was one boy there Joshua, he paid all his attention to me. He walked me to class, texted me all day and he used to make sure no other guys even looked at me. 

_After two weeks , he asked me on a date. Lindsay and Grace told me I should definitely go, so I did. He was the perfect gentleman; he pulled out chairs for me and held my hand. A month later we were the Quinn and Finn of California State. People wanted to be us and I felt amazing. That was when he showed his true colours. I was always to fat to eat the plate of chips from the cafeteria or my bikini was to skanky to go to the beach in and I had to get changed. I brushed his criticisms off and put on a happy face. It was lucky I am such a good actress because I was acting all the time._

Shelby was preoccupied with Beth so she didn't notice anything was wrong and so I confided in Lindsay and Grace. That was my biggest mistake. Little did I know Grace and Josh had been sleeping together since the night of our first date. I was crushed, my heart had been broken and I had no one to turn to. Lindsay however wouldn't stand to see my upset so she broke Josh's nose and Grace moved schools. 

_I came home two months later and Lindsay is probably still my best friend. Her and Beth were the only good thing about California, everyone else ruined it for me. _

_Coming home from school to Beth was the happiest part of my day. She reminded me of home and everything that I missed. The thing she reminded me the most of was you, she has your eyes and every time I looked at her I saw you._

Noah was shocked. He held Rachel's hand and her eyes filled with tears.

"What did you do Noah?" Quinn yelled. 

"Nothing, she was telling me about the douche bag in California, whose pin dick I am going to have to cut off. No one hurts my girls." Noah growled. 

"Your girls Noah?" Isabella said.

"Yeah, my mum, Anabelle, Quinn, you, Beth, Rachel and Santana." He answered.

"Since when was Santana your girl didn't she dump you because of your credit score?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, but we have been best friends since like kindergarten, she is like one of my best friends. She is like Finn in my mind." He explained.

"Hmm, well as interesting as this I would really like to shower because I smell like someone who has been shopping for things that aren't for her for hours." Quinn said.

"Don't lie Quinn, half the stuff in your trolley is for you." Isabella snapped at Quinn.

"Oh feisty Mama, I like it." Puck laughed and then winced when Isabella and Quinn both smacked him in the head. The two blondes walked off and Rachel and Puck walked in silence. Her hand kept brushing his and soon enough he grabbed it in his big one. She looked up at him.

"I got you Berry, you know that right?" she nodded he looked at their conjoined hands. "You have really cute hands." 


	4. Mama hasn't seen fight club

"Done" Noah said as he hammered the last nail into Rachel's bed. The two Fabray women had gone downstairs to order something for dinner so Rachel was sitting on the floor watching Noah work.

"Thanks Noah, you know you didn't have to do this for me." Noah looked down at Rachel and smiled. It surprised him, one second the girl was confident and talkative and the next she was second guessing everything she did or said.

"Well I wanted you to be comfortable and sleeping on the Fabray's lounge definitely isn't comfortable I know from experience and secondly I didn't have a choice even if I didn't want to. Mama doesn't trust Hudson with tools and rightly so, you know the scar on the back of his hand that was from when he hammered himself to a piece of wood in shop class." Rachel grimaced at the thought of Finn's hand attached to a block of wood. She began to unpack her clothes into the large cupboard. "Do you want a hand?" Noah asked her.

"Oh, if you want to help that would be great, just unpack the clothes and I will start with the shoes." She said placing three large suitcases in front of him. He unzipped the first one and took out pair after pair of denim pants. There had to be at least forty pairs of jeans and shorts in front of him.  
"There's forty three." She said from where she sat in front of a shoe cubby Noah had just built.

"Why in the name of the lord could you possibly need forty three pairs of denim pants for?" He said as he began folding them and putting them away.

"Noah you see the jeans I am wearing right now.' She stood up and turned in a slow circle as he looked at her denim clad legs. ' They are great for going shopping or bumming around the house but white is impractical and they can't be worn again unless they are properly laundered. That's why I have white and dark ones. Of course I have some coloured ones as well because someday a pair of yellow jeans may be needed. Then there are different styles, boyfriend, skinny, boot cut. Each pair depends on what else your wearing. I have that many shorts because it was all I wore in California. Besides my legs look good in denim." She finished her rant and went back to unpacking her numerous shoes.

"I wasn't disputing that I just find it ridiculous that one person could possibly need this much clothing." He muttered. After unpacking the pants he began to hang dresses up in her closet. He truly was shocked. There was no way Rachel would wear any of these dresses. Most of them were tight and short, his favourite however was a full length yellow dress. It was tight and low cut and the sides were cut out. He held it out to her. "Where did you wear this?"

"Oh my Aunts wedding. I wasn't going to keep it, but then I figured the dance is coming up so I may as well recycle right?" Noah nodded and silently prayed she stayed true to her word and wore that dress to the formal.

An hour later Noah had unpacked all the suitcases except one. He unzipped it and bit his tongue. In front of him was a case filled with Rachel Berry's underwear. It was nothing like he would have expected, the case was filled with lace and bows and there wasn't a pair of white granny undies anywhere. He picked up a pink g-string.  
"You really wear this Berry?" he said. She turned around and saw what he was holding. She ran and grabbed it off him.

"I can't believe you looked at my underwear Noah."

"You told me to unpack the suitcases how was I supposed to know what was in there?"

"The fact the other suitcases had no underwear in them may have tipped you off about what was in there." She began grabbing the contents of the case out and putting it into the top two drawers.

"I'm sorry, how about I make your bed?" She nodded her approval and Noah set about making the bed. After a few moments he worked up the courage to ask her again. "So you really wear that right Berry?"

"I have to, when I have dance recitals I have to wear a leotard Noah, I can't have my underwear showing out the bottom." Noah nodded his head and went back to work. Isabella walked past the room and peeked in. Her and Quinn had ordered dinner and contemplated going upstairs to help Rachel and Noah. They decided against it however, because they wanted the two young lovers to get together and that meant spending as much time alone as possible. Isabella was a responsible mother however and wanted to make sure the two weren't taking a tumble between the sheets. When she saw they were working together making Rachel's bed she walked back downstairs.

"Hey Rach?" Noah said from where he sat on Rachel's bed.

"Yeah Noah?" she said back. She was unpacking the last suitcase in the room. It held all her makeup and she was putting it into the boxes Isabella had brought for her.

"I was wondering if you wanted to come to my house for dinner sometime. Annabelle and my mum really miss you." In the short week Rachel and Noah had dated before she had spent her afternoons in the Puckerman household and Louisa loved the young caring girl that her son was stupid enough to let go. While Annabelle saw Rachel as her idol, she thought the small brunette was definitely Belle from Beauty and the Beast come to life.

"I would love to come Noah, I missed them to. How about next week after glee on Wednesday?" Noah nodded and layed back against the pillows humming. Rachel strained her ears to listen to him.  
"Is that Sweet Caroline your humming?" Rachel said turning to him. He smiled at her.

"Yeah, do you remember the day I sang it to you?" he paused thinking about it.

"I definitely remember that day Noah." Rachel said walking over to where he layed on her bed. "It was the first time you weren't being a badass, and although I was ironically turned on by your bad boy image, I was turned on by you being a sweetheart more."

"I turned you on Berry?" Noah said smirking at her. She smirked back something Noah didn't expect.  
"I said turned Puckerman don't get to excited. You won't get my legs open that easy. Besides we just made my bed, I'm not doing it again."

Noah frowned. He was just rejected by Rachel Berry, of course she was hot now but still she used to get slushies thrown at her. "I would make it again Berry, if you would have sex with Me."

"Not happening Puckerman, I don't give up that easy, you have to work for it." She laughed walking away from him. He scowled and looked at her as she tidied her room up. She must be a virgin he thought. "I'm not a virgin Noah." He gasped, Berry could totally read minds. " I can't read your mind you idiot, you said both those things out loud. Although the Berry's have been known to be a little bit physic." She said. He bit his lip unsure if she was joking or not. However when she cracked up laughing he did too. A minute later they were laying on her bed next to each other gasping for air.

He propped up on his elbow and looked at her. He smiled, not his usual Puck smirk, but a genuine Noah smile that was rarely seen. "You know, you're pretty cool Rachel, not as psycho as I used to think."

"Thanks I think. Your not to bad either Noah." He leaned closer and pressed his lips softly to hers. When they heard Quinn's voice they jumped apart quickly.

"Dinners here, oh Rachel your room looks great." Quinn said before walking out. Noah ran his fingers through his hair and Rachel cleared her throat.

"She right, it does look good. Thanks." She said walking out of the room.

"FUCK!" Noah cursed putting his head in his hands. He was totally head over heels in love with Rachel Berry. "MAMA!" he called out and a second later Isabella was at the door. She took one look at the boy she considered to be her son.

"Oh Noah. I know you like her." Isabella said pulling him into her arms.

"But it's fucked up you know Mama, I just had a baby with her best friend and then her mother adopted that baby and she isn't talking to her mum because she was sticking up for me. I will hurt her I break everything." He looked up at the blonde woman and her heart broke.

"You won't break it if you really try. Don't jump into this, Rachel has been through a lot. If the reason she moved back was because she was sticking up for you shows that you mean a lot to her. Show her you care, pay your attention to her. I know you Noah Puckerman. You're a sweet guy behind that badass shell, let her break and it show her the real you. Everything will turn out fine. Are you staying over tonight?" Noah nodded his head and hugged Isabella back. She kissed his forehead and walked out of the room as he followed behind.

Two hours later the group of four sat in the lounge room watching The Hangover. When Rachel and Noah found out that Quinn and Isabella hadn't seen it they faked having a heart attack. The Fabray's had tears rolling down their face, as they laughed at the movie.

"I can't believe you hadn't seen that Mama, I'm disgusted.' Rachel said. "That's like not watching fight club" The two blondes blinked at her.

"Oh No, you're kidding me right. I participate in a fight club how could you not want to know what that is about?" Noah yelled.

"Well, i'm sorry Noah, but one I don't wish to know about the illegal activities you are involved in and it just doesn't sound like the greatest movie." Isabella said moving to take the bowls to the kitchen. Quinn hoped up to help her out.

"I can't they haven't seen it. That's our new mission Berry, to make sure they watch it." He looked up and saw Rachel smirking at him. "What?" he said.

"You're in a fight club?' he nodded and she continued. "That's hot." She stood up and walked past him chuckling as he groaned. Twenty minutes later Rachel was wearing a tank top and a pair of shorts. She walked into the bathroom to find Noah already brushing his teeth. "Move over fool" she said to him and he moved down making room for her at the sink. She quickly brushed her teeth and stood waiting for him to finish.

"What?" He asked her.

"Your just really hot. Did you know that?" She said to him. He nodded his head and laughed.

"Are you really just realising this babe? I'm a stud. I knew the fight club thing would turn you on." It was her turn to laugh. She grabbed the back of her head and pulled her lips to his. He had planned on doing what Isabella said and taking it slow, but when she kissed him all thoughts when out the window and his instincts took over. He lifted her up and put her on the bathroom counter and she wrapped her legs around his waist.

"Rachel, where are you?" Quinn called from Rachel's room. Rachel pulled away from Noah sighing, she kissed him on the forehead before walking into her bedroom. Noah groaned, he had just been cock-blocked by Quinn Fabray. He leant against the bathroom door and listened to Rachel and Quinn talk.

"What were you doing?" Quinn asked.

"Brushing my teeth, I'm not really a fan of waking up with morning breath funnily enough." Rachel said.

"Ah, that makes sense. So I was wondering about you and Puck. You two seemed pretty close when you were having lunch today." Any anger at Quinn that Noah had in his head before went out the window.

"Honestly, I really like him. I thought maybe the bad breakup and being away would lessen the feelings, but they have just made them more intense. I have only been back at school for like two days and I can't get him out of my head, it's ridiculous. What should I do?" Rachel said.

"Are you stupid? Go for a ride on the Puckerone." Noah had to stop himself from laughing. "Oh not in that way Rachel, your disgusting. I mean a ride on the love train. He loves you, you love him stop being idiots you both want each other."

"I don't want to rush into it. I actually want to date him this time, so maybe if we go out for dinners, and to the movies. Get to know each other properly. You know what I mean?" He guessed Quinn nodded because Rachel continued talking. " Hey Quinn, I was wondering, do you think you could get me a try out for the Cheerio's. I was a cheerleader back in California and I really miss it."

"OF COURSE I CAN. Did you know Sylvester quit? After the glee club didn't get shut down she left. Miss Jones is so nice, she is really young and she is fair to. We don't have to starve ourselves anymore. We don't even have weigh ins. I will talk to her tomorrow. Have a good sleep Rach, I'm really happy your back." Quinn walked out shutting the door and Rachel hopped into her bed.

"You can come in now Noah." He walked around the corner and she smiled. "I am guessing you heard everything?" He nodded and layed down next to her.

"So you like me, I like you, what do we do about it?" Noah asked her.

"Exactly what I said to Quinn. Let's be old fashioned. Woo me, take me out on romantic dates, show me you care and more importantly show me you can be faithful Noah. After everything I went through in California, I can't have my heart broken again. I need to be able to trust you." Noah stood up and walked over to her side of the bed. He pulled the blankets up around her and kissed her on the head.

"You wanna go and see a movie tomorrow?" She nodded and he kissed her on the head. "Night Rach."

"Night Noah." He walked out of her room. Within minutes she was asleep.


	5. Queen B, S and Little Q

Rachel woke up the next morning to the smell of Pancakes. She contemplated going straight downstairs in her pyjamas but decided to get dressed instead. She looked through her wardrobe before deciding on a pair of leather leggings and a long Metallica singlet. She wore a red cardigan on the top with a pair of red flats and pulled her long hair into a messy ponytail. She grabbed her makeup and walked into the adjoining bathroom.

Noah walked into the bathroom, and saw Rachel at the sink. She looked hot, he thought to himself. She was putting mascara on and he walked up and wrapped his arms around her waist. She jumped at the unexpected contact.

"Shit! Noah. Haven't we heard of saying hello or coughing to say that we are in the room?" She turned around in his arms and stopped herself from smiling at his confused face. "I was kidding Noah. Good Morning, but what happened to taking it slow and being conspicuous? Grabbing me around the waist isn't conspicuous." She kissed him quickly on the lips and he stepped back against the vanity.

"I don't like slow and conspicuous anymore." He pouted and she looked at him confused. "You're seriously telling me that I don't get to touch you, when you're walking around in a pair of leather pants and a Metallica singlet? That's not fair babe."

"You can touch me, and kiss me, you just have to make sure you don't do it when there is anyone else around ok?' she kissed him again and pulled away before he got to into it. "I need to get ready Noah, stop distracting me. Go and get dressed we have to be at school in like an hour." She turned back to the mirror and he went to walk out, not before slapping her on the butt. "PIG!" she yelled from the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later the two walked down stairs hand in hand. As they turned around into the kitchen, Rachel put her hands behind his back and Noah put his in his pockets. Quinn was sitting eating pancakes and drinking an orange juice.

"'Sup?" Quinn said tiredly. Isabella came running into the kitchen pulling her hair into a bun at the nape of her neck. She put coffee into a thermos before kissing Quinn on the head.

"Ok everybody, I am running so late for work. I made all of your lunches. Quinn yours is the Red box, Rachel the yellow one and Noah the blue. I will probably be pretty late tonight so I left money for takeout on the bench. You are welcome to stay Noah and invite Finn. I will see you all tomorrow. Bye." She flew out the door grabbing her handbag and car keys along the way. Rachel laughed and Noah grabbed a plate of pancakes. Quinn was slamming her head on the table.

"My oh my Fabray aren't you chipper this morning?" Rachel said, sitting down next to Noah.

"Shut it treasure trail, I was studying for a maths test all night and then I remembered we have the glee assignment due today and unlike you Rachel I actually have to think about my song." She stood up and went to get dressed. Rachel was speechless and Noah just grunted.

"Did you think of a song?" Noah asked Rachel. She nodded, and chewed her food.

"I'm doing my song and then I'm helping Matthew and Michael with theirs. What about you?"

"Yeah, I have something planned." They finished breakfast and put the plates in the dishwasher. Rachel got their containers of lunch from the fridge and put them in their bags. "FABRAY I SWEAR IF YOU AREN'T DOWN HERE IN TWO SECONDS I WILL CARRY YOU TO SCHOOL HALF DRESSED!" Noah called up the stairs. Quinn walked down in a white halter neck shirt, and a pair of red jeans. Her long hair was held back by a red headband.

"Where's the uniform?" Rachel asked her as they made their way to Noah's jeep.

"We only have to wear it on game days and when we have practice. Speaking of practice, I called Miss Jones this morning and she said that if you are good enough she would be happy to have you on the team, because one of the new girls broke her leg." Quinn hopped into the backseat and pulled out her mobile phone. "Finn said not to worry about picking him up, Burt is taking him and Kurt, unfortunately."

"Oh school how I hate you so." Noah said as he pulled into the parking lot. He looked at Rachel but her attention was elsewhere. "What are you looking at Berry?" He followed her eyes and saw Kurt and Jesse hugging near Kurt's car. "Babe, just leave it." Noah tried to calm her down but he was too late. Rachel jumped out of the jeep and made her way over to the couple.

"Rachel, how to good to see you sweetheart." Jesse said. "Don't you look nothing like my grandmother?" Kurt laughed and Rachel pretended to giggle along before punching Jesse square in the jaw. Noah and Quinn jumped out of the jeep as Rachel continued to hit the lead of Vocal Adrenaline. Noah grabbed her around the waist and pulled her away as she continued to kick and punch.

"Rachel, calm the fuck down. I've got you babe." He whispered into her ear. Rachel's breathing started to calm down. "What the fuck was that?" he asked her while Quinn tried to settle down the situation with Jesse and Kurt who were threatening to sue.

"That motherfucker broke my heart and now he is cheating on Kurt with one of their guitarists. I saw them at the mall the other day." Rachel said. Kurt looked at Jesse who looked at his feet.

"Jess, tell me this isn't true please." Kurt said. "Tell me that Rachel is lying."Jesse looked up and set his face. "TELL ME" Kurt yelled. The group was attracting a crowd.

"It's true Hummel. I was using you just as much as I was using her. I used her to get you set list and I used you to break her heart. Then she left and I had to find a way to beat your scraggy little glee club again. I knew that if I had you, you would do what I want. Including getting everybody offside. I never loved you Hummel. Surely you knew that." Tears filled Kurt's eyes and Quinn and Rachel moved closer to console him.

"You're an ass St James. Get the fuck off my school grounds before I physically remove you." Puck growled.

"Done, I don't want to spend another second in this hell hole." He turned and walked out the school gate as Rachel and Quinn ushered Kurt into the choir room. Noah quickly sent out a mass text message and within minutes they were joined by the whole club.

"I'm so sorry, everybody. I was just crazy in love with him and I wanted to make him happy so badly. And instead I lost all my friends. I'm sorry" Kurt sobbed. Rachel hugged him and whispered into his ear. She stepped aside when Mercedes approached.

"Kurt, I shouldn't have let him do this to you. We all knew something was up. We shouldn't have let this happen." Mercedes hugged him and Quinn, Santana and Brittany did as well.

"Honestly, I'm happy he is gone. Frankly if missed another football game to go and see the fucking ballet I was going to shoot myself." Finn said clapping his brother on the back.

"Yeah, if you want us to slash the douche bag's tyres again, I'm free this weekend Hummel." Noah said. Matt and Mike voiced their agreements and the three began planning the revenge attack until Rachel spoke up.

"NOAH! I know your joking right now, there is no way in hell you will slash his tyres." Noah nodded and sat down in his seat. Everyone else looked shocked.

"Are you two dating?" Finn asked and the girls squealed. Mercedes and Brittany were chanting Puckleberry from where they sat in the back of the room. Rachel shot them a dark look and they instantly quietened down.

"No, I simply don't condone violence; I know that Mike and Matt won't take part in such an illegal activity unless Noah tells them to. So I had to tell Noah that it simply wasn't allowed to be done."

"Your telling me that you aren't dating Berry, yet she already has you under her control." Matt laughed and Mike started to make whipping noises. Now it was Pucks turn to shoot a dirty look and the boys were quiet. The bell rang and they watched as people started walking past the choir room.

"This is strange" Kurt said. Everyone turned to look at him. "Does anyone in this room dislike somebody else right now?" The whole group shook their head. "I think that's a first." He laughed softly. They sat for another ten minutes until Finn spoke up.

"You know what, let's out of here. I think if we went to Mr Shuester he would give us all a pass-out." Finn and Quinn stood up and walked to see Mr Shuester. They came back smiling, twelve slips of paper in hand. "He gave us excursion notes. Let's get out of here." The glee club stood up. Tina and Artie said goodbye and headed off to Arties house. Puck and Rachel gravitated closer to each other. It didn't go unnoticed by the club.

"Are they together?" Mercedes whispered from where she walked beside Santana, Britt and Kurt.

"I really don't know, they look like it but." Santana said. "I hope they get together." Mercedes looked at her.

"So you have no problem with them dating but when I dated Puck we had to be all Brandy and Monica and battle it out in song?" Mercedes said.

"Yeah, about that I always liked Puckleberry, you two just didn't click. It wasn't that I wanted him. I just care about him. He is like my little brother." Santana said smiling at the boy walking in front of them.

"Little?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah, the little runt is younger than me. Who do you think snuck him his first beer?" She said a little bit louder, so Puck would hear.

"Ah good times Santana, I believe that was your fathers 43rd birthday and we were like twelve. You put it in my lemonade." He poked the Spanish girl in the ribs and she punched him in the arm.

"Yeah well it wasn't my fault you were too much of a baby to just take a sip. The conversation went something like No San, we will get in trouble. We might get a time out." She put on a high voice, and everyone laughed.

"One, I was king of time out your dad just scared the shit out of me, also even before it broke my voice was not that high. Sound like fucking Jew Fro." They had reached Matt's land rover. Everyone climbed in except Noah and Rachel who were going in Noah's jeep.

"Oi, Hudson. Seeing as though this is your master plan where are we going?" Puck asked as he leaned through the driver's window of Matt's car.

"Shit! I didn't get that far I was just excited I got us the pass outs." Everyone shook their heads and Finn looked upset. Quinn patted him on the arm.

"We could go to my house, I have a pool and my dads are away on business." Rachel said. Everyone nodded and Rachel told them her address so they could go once they had picked up there swimmers, before grabbing his hand and dragging him to his jeep. They hoped in and he went to start the car. She put her hand on his leg and told him to wait.

Once they saw Matt's car drive away she hopped onto Noah's lap and kissed him. He was shocked at first but once he regained his thoughts he began to kiss her back. Finally after what seemed like a lifetime they pulled away from each other. Noah pushed Rachel's fringe back out of her eyes.

"As much as I enjoyed that, it wasn't really in a discreet place. Why?" He asked before dropping kisses on her neck. Rachel moaned and Noah nearly lost it right there. She cleared her throat and thought about what she was going to say.

"You were there for me this morning when I totally flipped out, and then you told Kurt you would be there for him if he needed it and your being really sweet about this conspicuous kissing thing and I don't really know what came over me." She put her head on his shoulder and felt his arms wrap around her body.

"I like whatever it was that came over you so kept it coming. Also baby, I told you I am always going to be here for you. I promise." He said to her rubbing her back. She chuckled dryly. "What are you laughing about?"

"I don't mean to not trust you, but Josh and Shelby promised to be there for me and they both walked away and my Dad's are great but they are never there for me either. How long until you decide that you don't like my crazy anymore. How long are you going to be here for me?" He felt his shoulder get wet and realised Rachel was crying. He pulled her back from him so he could see her face.

"I swear to you, that I will be here until you tell me to go." He wiped the lone tear that was dripping down her face away. "Now as much as I love you straddling me, we have to be at your house before everyone else so we should probably get going." Rachel slid off him and onto the bench next to him.

"Hey Noah, can I drive?" Rachel asked looking from him to the steering wheel. Noah's face contorted as if he was in pain. 

"You want to drive my truck?" He said. Rachel nodded excitedly. "Babe, can you drive a stick?"

"Of course I can, I excel in most things I do and driving happens to be one of them. However if in the unfortunate circumstance I crash your truck I promise wholeheartedly to buy you whatever sort of car you want." Noah considered this for a moment before opening the driver's door and jumping out.  
When he hopped back in Rachel was wearing his aviators and getting ready to drive. It turned out she was right. She could drive a stick, really well.

Rachel felt Noah's eyes on her face, as she drove back to her house.

"What are you looking at?" she asked. Her eyes not leaving the road once.

"Well, it's just your hot when you're driving my truck. I am finding it hard to take my eyes off you." Rachel laughed and turned her head to look at him. He was smirking and she shook her head. "Eyes on the road babe. As much as I would love a new car. The truck and I have to many memories."

"By memories you mean Cheerio's virginities?" She laughed and he chuckled to. She pulled into her driveway and they climbed out. She let them into the house and Noah looked around shocked. It was a really beautiful house, and a shrine to Rachel. Running along one wall was a line of black and white photos all documenting Rachel as she grew up. They started with a baby in a bassinet and ended in a sixteen year old girl wearing a bikini and playing with a smaller girl on a beach. Noah touched the photo.

"Beth" he whispered. Rachel put her hand over his and entwined her fingers in it.

"She loves the beach, Lindsay took that photo a few days before I left. My daddies said it was one of the best photos they had seen of me, so they put it on the wall. I think they liked me to be able to see Bethyboo every morning." Rachel felt her eyes sting when she thought about the little girl she had grown to love.

"You really love her." Noah whispered. "Why?"

"She was the only really good thing about California. I ran there to get away from the bullying I faced here, but I was miserable. Sure I was popular but I had always prided myself on being my own person, I was just being some California bimbo that my mother wanted me to be. Beth made me happy. She is the happiest little girl I have ever seen, and she is so much like Quinn it isn't funny. She even frowns the same way Quinn does. I think I loved her so much because she reminded me of you. Her eyes, her smirk when she did something she wasn't supposed to, and she loved the sound of the guitar. I love her because she was the only reminder I had of you." Tears ran down Rachel's face and Noah was crying as well. He softly pressed his lips against Rachel's and she kissed him back.

"I am so sorry for everything I ever put you through. You are possibly the greatest person I have ever met Rachel. Thank you for watching over my little girl. Thank you for loving her." He whispered before kissing her again. They hadn't noticed the gleeks standing in Rachel's doorway watching the sweet moment between the two. Rachel pulled away from Noah before walking up the stairs to get changed. Noah walked down another hallway, towards the kitchen Finn told them.

"What do we do now?" Matt asked.

"Nothing. They are obviously getting together and until they are ready to tell us then we do nothing but push them in the direction of each other. Like this afternoon when we go back for glee make sure they are sitting next to each other and then tonight at the sleepover at my house we can make sure they have to sleep next to each other. Capisce?" Quinn said glaring at the rest of the group, Santana who was standing next to her was fixing them with the same glare.

They nodded scared of the two cheerleaders. "Sup Gleeks?" Puck said walking to the front door, "what the fuck are you doing outside?" he asked before taking a sip of his drink.

"We were just discussing the sleep over at my house tonight, no biggie." Quinn said before pushing past Puck and into Rachel's house. Like Puck they looked around at Rachel's house and marvelled at it. Rachel walked downstairs wearing a caftan over a gold bikini. "Hey Rach, I like your house." Quinn said giving her friend a hug.

"Yeah, Berry you could have a mad party here." Mike said. The whole club agreed. Noah frowned, why were they making Rachel do something she wouldn't be allowed to do. He moved to stand next to her.

"You don't have to throw a party here if you don't want to. Or if you would get in trouble. I am sure if one of those douche bags wanted to throw a kegger they could do it at Mikes, or Matts. Am I right?" He glared at the group and they muttered their answers before smiling at Pucks protective nature towards Rachel.  
"It's ok Noah. I am sure they didn't mean anything by it. Actually Mike and Matt I wanted to talk to you about the performance this afternoon. I practiced the choreography and I have it down pat but I wanted to check that you are ok with my outfit. Come upstairs with me quickly. Everyone else, I am sure Noah will take you to the kitchen and get you a drink or some chips." Rachel went upstairs and Mike and Matt went with her, while Noah stood at the foot of the stairs and watched her walk away. After a few seconds Kurt cleared his throat, trying to break the silence.

" Ok fools, kitchen is this way." Noah said walking in front of the group. A few minutes later Rachel and the two boys walked back downstairs. "You all good?" Noah said stepping closer to Rachel.

"Yeah I'm great. It's just really hot and I need to go for a swim. Britt didn't you say you have your swimmers on already too." The blonde nodded. "Let's go swimming." Rachel said. Noah's eyes followed her as she pulled Britt out the door. Rachel stopped at the kitchen table and pulled of her caftan. Noah was shocked at her openness to taking her clothes off in front of everyone.

Matt, Mike and even Finn gasped and Noah shot them all a look that made them wish they were dead. Rachel smiled at them all over her shoulder and ran off to join Britt who was laying on a towel in her blue bikini. Santana and Quinn pulled their sundresses off and ran to join them. Quinn in a white bikini and Santana in deep purple one. Mercedes and Kurt grabbed their towels and went to join the girls outside.

"Holy crap." Mike said. Matt just nodded his head.

"If I catch either of your beady eyes on Rachel again, I will gouge them from your head with a spoon." Puck said.

"Yeah. Don't look at Quinn either you two." Finn said watching his girlfriend.

"Hey Puckerman, if you and Rachel aren't dating what's with all the protective jealous boyfriend crap?" Matt said.

"She has been through a lot, and she is my friend. I don't want to see her hurt because you douche bags think she is totally hot." The boys nodded and Noah pulled his shirt off before slipping his sunglasses on and walking outside. Finn followed him and sat down next to Quinn.

"Puck always gets the girls." Mike whined. Matt looked sympathetic for a second.

"You know that he is what Rachel wants as well. Also if Puckerman ends up dating Rachel, there will be some Cheerio's for us my friend." Matt said. Mike put his fist out and Matt bumped his against it. They walked out and jumped in the pool.

Two hours later the glee club walked back into school. They still had their swimmers on underneath their clothes and in their rush they hadn't gotten their shoes from Rachel's mud room.

"Jeez, Santana are you that poor that you can't afford shoes?" one of the gossip girl wannabe's called out from across the hall. Rachel, Quinn and Santana stopped. Was this girl actually serious? She wanted to take on Santana Lopez; surely she knew that came with a side of Berry and Fabray.

"I'm sorry I don't think I recognise you. What was your name?" Rachel said to the girl, who had started at McKinley when Rachel was in California.

"My names Becky, surely you have heard about me." The girl said. She knew Rachel Berry all the boys were talking about the weirdo that had come back to school totally hot.

"Oh I have heard about you' the girl smiled 'you were the one that slept with Dave and Azimio in the same night causing their 13 year friendship to be over. Now mind you I don't particularly like either of those boys but I believe in something called class. Here is a life lesson for you Beck, get some because otherwise you're just going to end up some washed up cocaine taking hooker." The girl seemed to be thinking about what Rachel was saying.

"She doesn't mean a hooker like Brandine from season two either sweetheart. You will be sleeping with criminals, not governors. So from now on you don't talk to anyone that I feel is my friend. Got it hoe?" Quinn said getting right in the girls face.

"Yes Rachel. I'm sorry Santana." Becky ran off whimpering while her friends followed after.

"Were they really just wearing coloured tights and headbands?" Rachel asked.

"Yes darling they were. You see the thing is Becky there actually goes by the nickname B, her goonies think she is the queen. Let's say she has taken the xoxo obsession a little too far." Kurt said. The rest of the club walked off leaving Santana, Quinn and Rachel standing at the lockers.

"You know Berry, you just stuck up for me and in the Lopez book of warfare anyone that does that is my best friend. How do you think me and Quinn became friends? cause I liked the white girl, huh I don't think so. Now we have a Queen B, an S and well a Q but that's ok because Quinn can be the less slutty more likeable version of little J. What do you think?" Santana said finishing her rant. Quinn smiled looking at Rachel.

"I'm Queen B?" Rachel said softly.

"Don't get excited I'm still the head honcho. You just get to be the bitchy over zealous powerhouse we know and love. As long as you don't wear coloured tights and headbands EVER!" Santana said.

"Sure S, whatever you say." Rachel hooked arms with Quinn and Santana and the three girls walked down the hallway together. "Could you two help me with my performance?"


	6. Paging Dr Faggot

The three girls walked into the choir room laughing. Mr Shuester did a double take when he saw who had entered the room together. Then again Rachel coming home had changed his club unbelievably. There wasn't a trace of animosity towards anybody at all.

"Alright, now that everyone is here, who wants to go first?" Mr Shuester asked. Everyone looked at Rachel to see if she would jump on the chance at performing first out of everyone.

"I think Matt and Mike should go first, if you just give me a second to get changed." Rachel said. The boys nodded and walked to the stage carrying a chair. Rachel went into the storage room carrying her bag. While she got changed she heard Matt and Mike explain what they are singing.

"What are you singing?" Mercedes asked.

"An Usher song, we can't tell you which one. But we can tell you its sweet." Mike said.

"Why Usher? I don't mean to sound rude but isn't he a bit low for your voice Mike?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah he is, that's why Mike is doing most of the dancing, because he is like Ushers feet reincarnated and I am just Usher. I mean look at me." Matt said and the club cracked up.

"Why is Rachel in your song?" Britt asked. Rachel had wanted to know why they asked her and here was her chance.

"Rachel will be performing alongside the Changster and me because she is a mad dancer and she totally owns this song. Also because this is our way of saying we are sorry for being douche bag's before and were glad your home. So Rachel seeing as though you're listening behind the door I think you can come and perform now." Rachel chuckled and walked out of the storage cupboard. She winked at the club. Noah frowned when he saw her outfit and sent a glare to Mike and Matt who shrugged their shoulders. The rest of the club's jaws were on the ground. 

"Close your mouths, you will catch flies." She walked up on the stage with Matt and Mike and gave them both a hug.

"Damn B, you look good." Santana said. She was right. Rachel was wearing a black leotard with a white button up shirt. She was wearing her black Pointe shoes and fish net stockings instead of her usual skin coloured ones.

"I know what song your doing." Mercedes yelled. Matt shot her a look and she winked before signing that her lips were sealed. "Go and do it already." Mercedes called out again and Mike switched the backing track on before the 3 took their positions. The sound of the new Usher song filled the room and Rachel stood between Mike and Matt. She placed her hands on their chests and winked at the club. Noah set his jaw and sent another glare towards the two boys.

Matt started to sing Hey Daddy by Usher, Rachel danced provocatively yet technically around them. Noah wasn't really impressed. He knew she was doing a dance with the boys yet he didn't know that she would be dancing like this. He crossed his arms and set his jaw. He saw that Matt and Mike were avoiding his eyes at any opportunity. Quinn put her hand on his arm and told him to calm down. He just brushed her off and turned back to Rachel. The song came to the finishing chords and Rachel stood on the chair with one leg high above her head. After singing the last line she jumped off the chair and curtseyed while the two boys bowed. Everyone cheered and the three stood waiting Mr Shuester comments.

"That was really good. Matt I really didn't know you could sing that well." Mr Shuester said.

"Yeah and Rachel are you sure you ain't a black girl cause you got a booty like Beyonce." Mercedes yelled.

"One of my daddies is black." She laughed. She looked at Noah and saw he was angry. She sent him a confused look and he just turned away. "Mr Shuester I am just going to get changed and I have to talk to Noah about something really quickly would that be ok?" Mr Shuester nodded and Rachel walked out the door. Noah didn't move. "NOAH!" was heard from down the hall and he sighed and followed her down the hall.

"Ok so are they dating?" Mr Shuester asked when they were out of earshot.

"Not yet but when we got to Rachel's they were totally making out, it was gross but totally sweet. Last night I swear they were making out in Rachel's bathroom at my house as well because I walked into her room and she ran out of there so fast and her lips were all bruised. We know that they will get together by the fact that they touch each other like every two seconds and Noah's jealous nature at Mike and Matt's performance." Quinn said. Mr Shuester shook his head smiling. Teenage hormones were really strange.

"Yeah and when we were at Rachel's and Mike and I had a bit of a look at her in her swimmers Noah threatened to like gouge our eyeballs out. I like my eyes thank you very much, so I am really quite scared about what he is going to do us about the song." Matt said. Kurt patted Matt on the shoulder and Mike grimaced at the pain he may have to endure.

Meanwhile Noah sat in the girl's locker room while Rachel got changed in one of the cubicles.

"Seriously Noah, you looked like you were going to punch one of the boys. We were only dancing." Rachel called out.

"You were like having dry sex with them Rachel, you want me to sit there and bop along to the music or what?" She opened the door dressed back into her normal clothes. She put her hands on her hips and sent him a Berry glare. If I were a lesser man I may be scared, Noah thought, no stuff that I am totally scared right now.

"Noah Elias Puckerman, I was dancing with them not having dry sex. I would expect you to have more faith in me; you know that I have feelings for you and not Matt or Mike. I don't even find them attractive. Ok so you don't need to be jealous, green really is not your colour.' She stepped over to him and he turned his face. She grabbed his head in her small hands and turned her to face him. "Noah, please I am apologising for not telling you about the dance in the first place but you're being ridiculous. I LIKE YOU." She kissed him and he kissed her back before pulling away.

"I am sorry babe, I just feel protective of you." She kissed him and grabbed her bag before walking away. He jumped and followed her, he could see her shoulders shaking and he wasn't sure if he was crying or laughing.

"Nice one Edward Cullen. I feel protective of you, please don't kill every boy that talks to me Noah, that could make things awkward ok." She stopped outside the choir room door and touched his cheek lovingly.

"It was kind of hot Berry, once I removed the wonder twins from the picture." Rachel laughed and the two took their seats next to each other. The hung their hands by the side of the chair so they could link them together without being seen. However Santana who was sitting with Mercedes behind them did see and she smiled before giving the other girl a high five.

"Ok, so seeing as though school is over we can have our remaining performers; Tina, Quinn, Rachel, Santana and Puck next Monday. Have a good weekend kids don't get into too much trouble" Mr Shuester began to pack up his sheet music. He listened as twelve different farewells, ranging from Mercedes later to Brittany's have a good weekend glee teacher rang out at him. He smiled; it was going to be a good year for New Directions.

"Ok, so everyone can go home and get some clothes and Rachel, Puck, Finn and I will go to the store and get some food and we will meet everyone back at my house in an hour. Sound good?" Quinn said. Everyone nodded and hopped in their cars to get ready. The left over four walked towards Puck's car.

"Actually Quinn, I wanted to get some clothes I don't have any at your house and my mum really wants to see you again. So maybe we could go with Kurt and Burt and Noah and Rachel can go to the store?" Finn said. Quinn frowned but when Finn shot her a weird look she nodded her head and followed him to Burt's car.

"Umm, alright they are so strange. Looks like we're in charge of the shopping then Berry. Let's get going." He helped her into his car and she squealed when Noah slapped her on the butt. "Sorry babe. I slipped." He smirked as he closed her door and walked to his side of the car.

"You are a pig Puckerman." She said when he got in the car. He pulled his sunglasses on and smiled at her.

"You love it." She bit her lip before slapping him in the back of the head. "Shit woman, what did I do?" She shrugged her shoulders and changed the radio station. Soon enough Noah pulled into the grocery store car park. They got out of the car and Noah didn't notice a black sedan that was also in the car park.

"Noah, I don't want to alarm you but is that your mother." Rachel pointed to a woman with long black hair and hazel eyes standing at the checkout.  
"Shit, if that woman sees us here she will start planning our wedding and painting nurseries or some other crazy stuff. Ok this is a recon mission get your trolley and get down low. Then I want you to run through to the other end of the store while I distract the loony. Got it?" Noah said holding Rachel's hand. Rachel laughed but nodded her head before they ran to the entrance of the store. When they got to the door Rachel dropped Noahs hand before running to the trolley bay and proceeding faster than Noah had ever seen her go to the back of the store.

"Noah?" he heard his mother call.

"Hey mum, what are you doing here, don't you do your shopping on Wednesdays?" Noah asked walking over to his mum.

"Usually I do, but I got the day off and we needed some food, so I decided I would come down here before I have to pick your sister up from dance. What are you doing tonight?"

"Well I was going to check that it was ok but Quinn is having a glee club sleepover. So I was going to go. Why?" His mother usually didn't mind what he was doing anymore. Since Quinn had given birth he had grown up and wasn't partying as hard.

"I was going to see if you could look after your sister, but I will call a babysitter. Don't worry go and have fun with your friends."

"Nah, its cool. I can just get the stuff for Quinn and then come home. Are you going out with Richard?" Richard was a doctor at the hospital Noah's mother worked at. They had been dating for two years and they regularly had date night. Noah liked the guy, he made his mum happy but if he hurt his mum Richard was going to have to put his medical training into use.

"Yeah we were going to go to the ballet. Noah I want you to go and have fun with your friends you already do too much for me. I will see you tomorrow ok?" she wheeled her trolley to the car without another word and Noah walked to the back of the store looking for Rachel.

"Noah is it safe to come out?" he heard a whisper. He turned around looking for Rachel but couldn't see her. "Down here." He looked at the ground and saw Rachel hiding in an empty space in the shelf.

"What are you doing down there Berry?" He laughed before holding his hand out.

"I wasn't sure what was taking so long and then I heard women's shoes and I thought they were your mothers so I hid in the first place I could find. I hurt my back, I didn't realise there was a rail thing on the back of the shelf. Is it bruised?" She turned around and Noah lifted her singlet up at the back. Sure enough there was a purple bruise lining her back.

"Shit Rachel, seeing my mother would have been better than that. Don't do something stupid like that again ok?" He kissed her quickly on the lips and she nodded. "Come on we got to get this crap for Fabray." He took the trolley from her and Rachel walked along beside him holding onto his arm. They talked about nothing in particular. They stopped once in a while to put something in the trolley. Soon enough it was full.

"I think we went overboard, don't you?" Noah said to her as he put the stuff up at the counter. Rachel looked at the overflowing chocolate and shrugged.

"That comes to $54.80 cents" the girl at the counter said. Rachel went to pull her wallet out but Noah stopped her.

"Let me get this." he handed the cashier the money and he heard Rachel mutter something about him being such a man. After he got his change he grabbed the bags and walked to his truck. He helped Rachel into her seat and walked around and got in his. "SHIT!" he said as he got in.

"Noah, sweetie what's wrong?" Rachel said her voice full of concern. He put his head on the steering wheel and she put her hand on his arm. (She was consoling him, not trying to cop a feel.)

"I told you I would take you out tonight and I fucking forgot, Rach I am so sorry." Noah said looking at Rachel. She laughed.

"Babe, don't take this badly but I forgot as well." She said taking one of his hands in hers. She held it the whole back to Quinn's except for when he had to change gears of course.

"QUEEN B, you're finally here!" Santana called when Rachel pulled up. She ran outside with a wine cooler in her hand.

"S! Are you drinking?" The Latina girl nodded and stumbled a little, before cracking up laughing.

"Yeah, Mama Fabray is one cool woman, she lets us drink. Come on B, I wanna dance." Santana grabbed Rachel's hand who tried to reach for Noah to help her.

"Have fun ladies." He called out before taking the shopping inside. He found most of the original members inside unsure of what to do in a party situation. Mike and Matt were already drunk and Finn was stumbling so chances were he had drunk at least one drink. "Hey Gleeky's having fun?" Puck said.

"No not really. If my mother found out there was drinking at this sleepover she would make sure I was fully paralysed." Artie said. Noah thought about Arties totally hot mum hurting her son but couldn't picture it so he just shook his head.

"Look, here is a little trick I learned at a party once. Take a wine cooler and pour half of the shit out. Fill it up with water, now it's so diluted it's like cordial, you can drink like seventeen of these and only feel slightly tipsy. Or you can all have a little fun and drink?" Puck said. Kurt took a bottle from Pucks hands and started to drink it, so did Mercedes. Artie did Puck's trick and Tina looked at the bottle hesitantly.

"I might just have one and then stick to water." Puck nodded and took a drink patting Artie on the shoulder before he walked out the back. Rachel, Santana and Brittany were dancing and Rachel had a drink in her hand. She smiled at him and he winked.

"You two would be cute" Quinn said popping out of nowhere. Noah jumped and then put a hand on his chest.

"Holy shit Fabray, don't do that sneaking up on me crap it's not right." He said taking a long sip of his drink before handing the bottle to Quinn who finished it off.

"Seriously though, are you two reuniting or something?" She looked up at him and he just smiled before looking back at Rachel.

"Can't tell you Baby Mama; go ask Queen B or whatever the fuck you freaks call her now." He walked away and went to sit inside and watch the basketball. Quinn frowned at Pucks retreating back before she was dragged over to dance with the girls.

The partying wound up with Isabella got home. She wasn't mad at the kids she just had a headache and didn't want partying kids keeping her awake all night. Quinn and Rachel dragged five mattresses downstairs and the group all picked spots. Santana, Britt and Mike were on one mattress, with Kurt Matt and Mercedes on the next one. Tina and Artie were lying together with Quinn and Finn on the mattress next to them. Rachel looked around the room and softly smiled to herself, looks like she was sleeping next to Noah. She turned to go to her room and get dressed.

When Rachel came back downstairs five minutes later and Noah was lying on the mattress waiting for her. She stepped carefully through the maze of beds and layed down next to him. He pulled the blanket over the top of them both and grabbed her around the waist to drag her closer.

"So what are we going to do now?" Matt said. Unlike everyone else he and Mike had already passed out and woken back up so they were full of energy.

"Shush, Matt I have a headache.' Santana whined. 'Let's just veg out and watch movies I can't be bothered to do anything else. Besides the love-birds over there bought enough food to feed an army so we should start eating." Noah and Rachel jumped apart as everyone turned to look at them.

"Don't look at me, it was all Berry's doing." Noah said putting his hands in the air.

"Yeah, well in California most of the parties had food involved during the drinking and at my birthday party we went through that much food, I guess I just bought extra in case." Rachel said before preparing to go and get the junk food from the kitchen.

"Sit down Rach, Finn and I can handle it." Quinn said. Finn groaned and she shot him a glare that made him move faster than the speed of light. Rachel got comfortable again and Noah began drawing patterns on her arm.

"I vote we watch the hangover" said Mike. Rachel and Noah groaned. "What?" the dancing boy said.

"We had to watch it the other day because Mama and Quinn hadn't seen it and now they won't shut up it has literally been one day and if I hear paging Dr faggot again, I will light Noah on fire." Rachel said. Noah gasped and everyone laughed.

"Fine, we won't watch the hangover Puckerman and Berry are too precious for such things. What about twilight. Robert Pattinson is hot." The boys groaned and to Noahs delight Rachel grimaced to. He had been dreading what new movie they would have to see. He was hoping it would be badass like the new karate kid but he had thought Rachel would be into twilight. Obviously he was wrong.

"Gay, were watching Fight Club." Quinn said walking back into the room. "I haven't seen and Noah and Rachel said we have to watch it because it's great and Noah is in a fight club so maybe if we watch we would understand what it is he gets up to on Wednesday nights." The boys plus Rachel cheered while the other girls groaned. Finn put the DVD in and layed down next to Quinn.

Halfway into the movie Rachel and Noah were asleep. Unfortunately as good as the movie was they had seen it a combined total of seventeen times. Rachel was lying with her head on Noah's chest and he had his arms around her back. Santana and Quinn sat for at least half an hour and took photos.

"One, turn this crap off before I grow a penis, put the hangover on Juno,' Santana said to Quinn. Quinn gave her the finger before moving to change the DVD. "Who wants to bet on how long it will be before Puckerman grows a pair and asks Berry out?" Everyone nodded and Santana wrote down when and where. The shortest being as soon as they wake up in the morning from Britt to two weeks when Puck has tied up his pool cleaning business, from Matt.

"Ok, so whoever is the closest to the right time and wherever they are at the time gets the total prize money of $100? That sound alright to everyone else?" Santana said. Everyone nodded and they all sat back to watch the hangover. Cracking up when like clockwork Quinn started calling out Paging Dr Faggot.

"QUINN FABRAY, IF YOU SAY THAT ONE MORE TIME I WILL SEW YOUR MOUTH SHUT!" Isabella called from the stairs.

"Love you to Mother Goose. Go to sleep you old bag." Everyone called out night to Mama Fabray and she went to bed. 


	7. Watch your knees Berry

The next morning Rachel woke with a start consequently kneeing whoever was holding her in the stomach.  
"Ouch holy shit Berry, watch where you're putting your legs." Noah wheezed, winded. Rachel giggled before tucking herself back into his body.  
"Sorry Noah." She closed her eyes tight and tried to go back to sleep. About ten minutes later both she and Noah groaned. "I can't get back to sleep." Rachel said.  
"I can't get back to sleep and I'm winded." He rolled onto his back and clutched his stomach.  
"I want coffee, do you want coffee?" Rachel jumped up and pulled her hair out of the ponytail. She felt Noah's eyes on her so she looked over her shoulder and winked before walking upstairs. Noah followed walking carefully so he didn't wake anyone else up.  
Rachel's bedroom door was shut when he got there so he knocked.

"Come in." She called out. Noah opened the door to see her finding clothes in her chest of drawers.

"Do you really have to get dressed before making coffee?" He chuckled before lying down on her bed. She got some clothes out and walked into the bathroom. She got dressed and did her makeup before pulling her hair into a messy ponytail. She walked back out and sat down next to Noah.

"Well I would stay in my pyjamas but I thought you might want to go and have some breakfast with me. I figure we have at least two hours before everyone else wakes up and then we can just send them a message and tell them to meet us for like lunch or something. We don't have to, I guess we can just stay here and you cannot kiss me?" Noah was off her bed and into his room faster than a Moth to a flame. He walked back in with a pair of jeans and a t-shirt on. He held his hand out to her and went to drag her downstairs.

"As much as I love your enthusiasm I need shoes." Rachel said, letting go of his hand and went to her cupboard to pull out a pair of black heels. She sat down and pulled them on. Noah looked at her outfit and smiled. It was just so different to the old Rachel. He didn't mind the old Berry, in actual fact he loved her. This Rachel was just so much more confident and happy that he couldn't help but love her more. "You alright pervert?"

"I can't help it, you just look amazing." She had a pair of dark blue jeans on with a yellow frilly top and her black high heels. "Can we go now?" he asked and she nodded before quietly walking down the hallway. They made their way carefully through the lounge room. Unfortunately for them when Noah tripped and Rachel snorted they woke Santana. She kept her eyes closed until Rachel and Noah walked out the door.

"Get your lazy asses out of bed immediately." She screamed jumping on the bed causing Mike to fall off and Britt to cry. Quinn hopped off her mattress and walked over to console the blonde. Mike sat up against a wall and rubbed his head.

"Please Santana, I know you're angry when you're hung over but that is no reason to make Britt cry." Quinn said. She looked around at the now waking group, two of them were missing. "Where are Rachel and Puck?" Everyone looked at the now empty mattress.

"That's why I was trying to wake you all up, love birds just snuck out the front door. All dressed up to have breakfast. I say we get dressed and trail the streets to spy on them. Anyone that wishes to join me should meet at Matt's truck in four minutes." Santana, Britt and Quinn ran up the stairs quickly, while the other glee girls were apprehensive.

"Should we do that to Rachel?" Mercedes asked. Tina shrugged her shoulders but walked up the stairs with Kurt. Matt looked at Mercedes.

"I would like to say you had a choice, but unfortunately none of us do. You have faced the wrath that is Santana once do you want to face it again?" Mercedes rolled her eyes at his answer muttering something about cutting a stick figure.

Matt and Mike walked up the stairs pushing each other. Mike chuckled as his friend fell down.

"What the fuck are you laughing at Chang?" Matt snarled rubbing his sore shin.

"You totally have the hots for Jones. You so want Beyonce." He laughed.

"Shut up. You want me to call Santana out here or what? And besides Puck calls Kurt Beyonce so I would rather if you didn't give Mercedes that nickname to. Thanks." Matt said laughing as Mike blushed at the mention of Santana.

"So you do like Mercedes?" Matt nodded and Mike continued. "Well you should totally go for it, I heard her telling Quinn and Santana last night that she liked someone but she wouldn't say who. I bet it's you." Matt stopped again before turning to go into his 'room' at the Fabray's house.

"Are you going to ask Santana out?" Mike shook his head.

"She wouldn't go for it. Plus it would be too confusing to explain to Britt." Mike looked upset and Matt frowned trying to think of something to say.

"You won't know unless you try. Besides the word going around is that Britt likes Douglas Johnson on the basketball team so I wouldn't worry about her. Shit we have two minutes to be at my car."

The boys got dressed and were still at the car quicker than the girls. Matt saw Mike's jaw drop when Santana walked out in a short sleeved top and a pair of tiny shorts. He threw the keys at Mike. "You drive, I have a hangover." Mike looked confused until Santana called out shotgun, slipping on her aviators.

"Get in the car Chang before I emasculate you." Santana yelled and Mike jumped in the front seat scared for his safety. Matt hopped in next to Mercedes and soon enough they were on the way to spy on Puck and Rachel.

"Noah stop there look how cute it is." Rachel called out. Noah looked where she was pointing. It was a restaurant designed to look like a 50's style milkshake bar. He had been in there with Quinn and Finn once and it didn't excite him that much. But Rachel wanted to go there and he wanted Rachel to be happy so he pulled in. They walked inside and sat down, when they ordered Rachel got a stack of pancakes with ice cream and berries and Noah got bacon and eggs.

"So, movies tonight, what do you want to see?" Noah asked her. She thought for a little while, her brow furrowing in the middle.

"I honestly don't even know what is out right now. I don't really want to watch eclipse but, I don't really understand the whole twilight obsession thing. I want to watch something where I don't really have to think. What about the Karate Kid, we could totally use the ninja skills on Mike, see if he is as good as he was saying last night." Rachel said. Noah laughed thinking about Mike and his so called Badass Ninja Fighting Skills.

"Yeah, if you want to watch that we can." Noah said, he glanced out the window and saw a black 4WD going past. Funny he thought that looks like Matt's car. He shook his head and turned back to Rachel.

"Yeah we will watch that. I have to buy some school stuff too; I don't have any books so if we could go into the shops that would help me like heaps." Rachel said. Noah smiled, of course Rachel would think about school on the weekend. He nodded anyway.

"Of course we can, whatever you want to do. So you have your tryout on Monday right?" He said. She looked a little bit confused and then remembered her cheerio's tryout.

"Yeah, have you met the new coach, what is she like?" Rachel looked at Noah expectantly as he tried to think of a way to explain the new cheerleading coach.

"You know her as well Rach, its Lindsay Smith she went to our school like five years ago. She was head cheerleader before Quinn was. When she heard Sylvester quit she turned up and just took over. The funny thing was half the other girls on the team didn't like the way she ran things so they quit. Smith didn't mind she just ran tryouts that were open to anyone and soon enough the team was better than they were before. Sylvester came to try and get her job back like a week later and she was literally thrown out the door by Figgins and Pillsbury. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen."

Rachel laughed thinking about Miss Pillsbury throwing Sue Sylvester around. That's when she noticed a black car that was identical to Matt's parked across the street. She looked at it, trying to see who was inside, but with no such luck. She turned back to her pancakes and kept talking to Noah.  
After ten minutes she looked back at the truck and frowned. Noah followed her line of sight and shook his head. He muttered something about not being able to trust their douchebag friends and pulled his phone out. Rachel watched as he dialled someone's number.

"Hey Mike. What are you guys doing?"  
"Oh really so your just watching a movie, are you sure you and the rest of the gleek's aren't sitting across from me and Rachel watching us eat like a bunch of douchebags?"  
"Yeah whatever just come inside dickwad." He hung up and smiled sadly at Rachel.

"Sorry babe, it looks like our private breakfast is becoming a Gleek fest." Noah pushed his plate next to hers and hopped around her side of the booth. The door opened and the glee club walked in one by one. Santana glared at the woman waiting tables. The waitress ran over and added another table to Rachel and Noah's before taking everyone's orders.

"So are you going to tell us why you to snuck out so early?" Santana asked, sitting next to Mike across from Rachel and Noah. Rachel looked at Noah nervously and the table fell silent waiting for their answer.

"Yeah, well it started with Berry kneeing me in the stomach and then we tried to go back to sleep but that wasn't going to happen so Rachel suggested we should go out for breakfast because there was no food in the house. We thought you lot were so hung over that you wouldn't emerge into the light until like lunchtime and we were just going to meet up with you all then. Seems you aren't all that hung over."

"Actually' Finn said clutching his head. "I may still be drunk, I don't really know." everyone laughed and Quinn just shook her head. Noah grabbed Rachel's hand under the table and she squeezed it, hoping they weren't getting caught out.

"So, what is everyone doing after this?" Mike asked. Everyone thought about what they were going to do.

"I have to go to a family reunion thing and Artie is coming with me so we should get going soon actually." Tina said. Everyone nodded sadly. Those two always missed out on doing stuff.

"Wait, Mike, if Tina has to go to a family reunion don't you have to go as well. Aren't you guys like cousins?" Britt asked. Mike opened his mouth to answer but just shook his head. Santana snorted and held back a laugh.

"Finn and I are going on another one of Carol and Burt's family bonding days. Quinn I think you should come to this one, seeing as though you couldn't come before." Everyone knew that he was talking about Jesse and so they didn't press the conversation any further. Quinn just nodded and said she would love to join.

"I just wanted to chill at my house. You're all welcome." Mercedes said. Matt agreed straight away and then Santana said she had nothing better to do so she might as well come over, which resulted in Mike saying he too would chill at Mercedes house.

"I am teaching a dance class so I have to leave in 10 minutes." Britt said, pulling money for her coffee out of her purse. Noah looked at Rachel trying to decide what to say their plans were. Rachel beat him to it.

"Louisa wants me to go and help Annabelle practice for her piano recital so we have to leave soon as well." Rachel felt Noah squeeze her hand. It was his secret way of congratulating her cover.

Britt, Tina and Artie left a few minutes later promising to talk to everyone the next day. Noah very eloquently told Finn to get the fuck out of his way because he and Rachel had to go before his mother ate them alive. 

Noah helped Rachel into his truck and drove off in the direction of his house.

"That was the best save ever babe, I am proud to call you my ummm, I don't really know what to call you, but if I were to call you something I would be proud." Noah continued rambling and Noah put her hand on his thigh to silence him.

"Noah could you please stop rambling, your worse than me. We aren't actually going to your house are we?" Rachel said. As much as she loved Noah's family she definitely didn't need to deal with Louisa's crazy antics today. Noah shook his head. "We can go to my house." Noah turned his car around and drove in the direction of Rachel's empty house.

Matt, Mike, Santana and Mercedes went to Mercedes house half an hour later. Santana dragged the other girl upstairs telling the boys they were getting movies from Mercedes room.

"So tell me, what's going on with you and Rutherford, you could cut that sexual tension with a knife." Santana said laughing when Mercedes started to blush.

"Well I guess I like him, but it is probably never going to be more than a crush because let's face it he will never go out with someone like me.' Mercedes frowned at Santana's confused face. 'He went out with you, now look at me. Why would someone that went out with you go out with me?" Santana slapped Mercedes in the back of the head.

"Don't be an idiot, have you met Matt he is a great guy who wouldn't go out with someone based on their looks, he goes out with people based on their heart and soul. It wouldn't hurt to see if he liked you back." The girls walked downstairs.

"I guess you're going to tell me there is nothing going on with you and Other Asian then?" Mercedes said. Santana pushed her into the wall and laughed when Mercedes told her to step to it.

"I like Mike it would just be too hard to explain to Britt why neither of us can hook up with her anymore which sucks I guess." Santana said playing with a curl in her hair.

"Britt would understand, anyway isn't she dating some guy from the basketball team,' Santana nodded. "Well you and Mike would have to stop hooking up with her anyway so I would just go for it just ask him out on a date. You could have cute dancing babies." Mercedes giggled at Santana's glare.

"I am really glad I joined glee Cedes, I find your not as annoying as I first thought. And I am really sorry for all that stuff I said when you were dating Puck." Santana said giving the other girl a hug.

"Hot damn Lopez, stop being such a sissy, let's go downstairs I don't want those boys messing up my house." The two girls went downstairs and saw Matt and Mike watching a football game.

"Took your time" Mike said as Santana sat down next to him. She moved so that they were touching. Mercedes sat down next to Matt, who gave her the television remote. He expected her to change the channel, shocked to find she didn't.

"Yeah well San and I had to discuss some girl stuff that has nothing to do with the two of you. Bet you the colts win this one." Matt chuckled, the girl he liked was actually interested in football that was a gold star in his books.  
***

Across town, Rachel and Noah were making out on her bed. Rachel pressed her body down a little bit on top of Noahs and he groaned. He pulled his mouth away from hers to gain control and to breath. She began to press little kisses down his jaw.

"Baby, we have to stop, cause I don't want to take advantage of a situation that you didn't want to be in." Rachel sat up and Noah laughed. Her usually neat hair was messy and her lips were a little bruised.

"First of all you weren't taking advantage of me Puckerman I liked the situation. I really like your kissing you." Rachel said leaning her face up to kiss him again. He kissed her before pulling away again.

"I like kissing you to, I just sort of wish we didn't have to do it in secret all the time." Rachel bit her lip before taking his hands in her small ones.

"Ask me to be your girlfriend." Rachel said. Noah chuckled at her assertiveness.

"Rachel Berry, will you be my girlfriend?" Noah said smiling at her. The stupid thing was they both already knew the answer, and they were already sort of dating, they had just never labelled it that way. She nodded her head and he kissed her again. His eyes went to the clock on the wall. It was 5:00 already. They had an hour to be at the movies. "Babe, as much as I love this we have to go if you want to see that movie." Rachel stood up and straightened her clothes. She pulled Noah's hand and dragged him down the stairs.

Noah smiled. Finally he had the girl of his dreams, now he just had to make sure he didn't stuff up and got to keep her. 


	8. Will you wear my jacket?

When they got to the movies Noah lined up to buy the tickets while Rachel went to the bathroom. She walked out five minutes later after fixing her hair again and saw Noah standing with a tall pretty red-headed girl. She ignored the sinking feeling in her stomach when the red head put her hand on his arm and walked over to join them.

However the sinking feeling disappeared completely when she saw how Noah's face lit up when she walked over to him.  
"Daisy, I would like you to meet my girlfriend Rachel Berry. Rach, this is the best babysitter and my best friend of all time Daisy O'Lachlan. She practically raised me and the squirt until she went off to college a few years back."

"It's great to finally meet you, I have heard a lot about you." Daisy said. Rachel raised her eyebrows and looked at Noah. He blushed and looked anywhere but at Rachel.

"Have you really?" Rachel said.

"Yeah, in the five minutes you have been in the bathroom, it has been Rachel this and Rach that." Daisy laughed and Rachel shook her head.

"So flame what are you doing back in shitsville Ohio?" Noah asked her, taking some of the attention away from him.

"Oh you know how I got married a few months ago, Mum is going crazy because James and I had the ceremony in New York and she is making us have one here. She also wants the baby to be born here." Daisy said resting her hand on her stomach.

"Holy crap flame your eggo is preggo, that's great. Where is James the lucky son of a bitch?" Noah was looking around for the man that obviously belonged to Daisy.

"Congratulations" Rachel said hugging Noah's best friend.

"James isn't here I'm catching up with the girls, but you will have to come to mum's house next week to get fitted for a tuxedo. James wants you to be part of the bridal party. Rachel you to, come be one of my bridesmaids." Daisy smiled before she heard her name called out by a group of girls.  
"Noah you know where I live, come and see me. I will see you soon Rach, it was great to meet you." Daisy walked off and joined her friends.

Noah bought their tickets and some snacks before directing Rachel towards the cinemas.  
"I really liked her Noah, was she serious about the whole bridesmaid thing?" Rachel asked Noah who chuckled.

"Yeah, she would have been, you don't understand, you have just been accepted by Daisy O'Lachlan, you will be best friends in a week." Noah said shaking his head. They sat down as Karate Kid started and Rachel put her head on Noah's shoulder. Two hours later the movie was over and they walked outside. Noah laughed as Rachel did her best karate kid impersonation.

"So baby, what do you want to do now?" Noah asked Rachel as they hopped in his truck.

"Let's go back to Quinn's. I have to call my Dad's anyway." Noah nodded before starting the drive back to the Fabray house. Twenty minutes later they were there. Noah kissed Rachel before telling her he had to get home and he would pick her up for school the next day.

Rachel walked into the house only to be ambushed by the two Fabray women. They pushed her onto the lounge before sitting opposite her with matching idiotic grins on their faces.  
"So, do you need to update your Facebook status?" Quinn asked her crossing her fingers and her toes. Rachel grinned a little bit before nodding yes. The two Fabray women squealed in delight.

"That happened quicker than we had planned Quinn, don't you think?" Isabella said winking at Rachel.

"It really did, so what did you two get up to tonight?" Quinn asked Rachel.

"We went to the movies and he introduced me to his old friend Daisy. He is picking me up in the morning, how are you getting to school Quinn?" Rachel asked her as Isabella went up to bed.

"Finn is picking me up; Burt gave him a car today." She said smiling.

"Bur t gave him a car?" Rachel said bewildered. She didn't think the relationship between Finn and his soon to be step-dad was that good? Quinn laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, you should have seen Finn's face; I have never seen him so happy. His mum started to cry and then's when I came home. I didn't want to get stuck in a group of crying Hudson-Hummel's that could be the weirdest situation ever. Anyway get a good night sleep Berry, you have cheerleading tryouts tomorrow." Quinn walked past.

"Oh joy." Rachel followed Quinn up the stairs and went into her own room. She picked out her pyjamas and went to have a shower. When she came back out her phone was signalling she had a text message from Noah.

_'Sweet dreams baby, ring me when you wake up so I can pick you up on time. Xx'_

Rachel smiled before sending a message back and getting into bed for a good night's sleep. She woke up to her phone ringing at seven thirty and jumped out of bed realising she was running late. It was her Dad's.

"Dad I'm sorry I didn't call, I have just been hanging out with friends this weekend and catching up on some homework. It just slipped my mind." Rachel said holding her phone to her ear and pulling on a pair of dark blue short shorts and her gladiator sandals. "Dad I have to go I am getting ready for school and at this rate I am going to be so late." She hung up and pulled on a midriff sweatshirt with a sleeveless top underneath and tied her hair up in a bun on the top of her head.

She grabbed her bag and threw in a pair of sweat pants and a shirt along with her joggers for cheerio's tryouts later that day. Running down the stairs she typed in Noah's number and put her phone to her ear. It rang out and she shook her head pressing redial. This time he picked up on the second ring.

"Hey, I was in the shower. You ready to go?" Noah asked her. Rachel held her phone between her ear and her shoulder and poured herself a cup of coffee into a thermos.  
"Yeah, I will be waiting outside. Burt gave Finn a car so he picked Quinn up this morning so you don't have to take her and I haven't seen Mama all morning so I don't think you will even have to get out of the car." Rachel spoke a mile a minute and Noah chuckled at the other end of the line.  
"Alright babe I will be there in ten minutes, I have to go to the gas store first and get petrol, I realised last night I didn't have much left." Rachel said goodbye and hung up. She grabbed her lunch out of the fridge and waited on the front porch for Noah.

Sure enough he pulled up ten minutes later, with his aviators on sipping a slushie. Rachel shook her head and laughed at him before pulling herself into his car. Noah smiled at her and took another long sip of the slushie. He handed it to Rachel before backing out of the driveway. She lifted the lid off and saw it was Berry flavour.

"I remembered that it was your favourite." Noah said. Rachel took a sip before leaning over and kissing Noah on the cheek.

"So my Dad's called this morning because I forgot to call them last night and they went all ballistic on me." Rachel said. Noah nodded his head wondering where she was going with this story. "I was going to tell them that we were dating but I didn't get a chance to because I was running late and they were yelling."

"Oh, right I understand what you're getting at now. I told my Mum if that's what you wanted to know. She nearly called the wedding planner. And then I was almost positive that she was going to have a heart attack she was so happy. You're coming over for dinner tonight. No choice babe." Noah said shaking his head. 

"Ok, I am happy to come but I have to go back to Quinn's first I am definitely not wearing this to your mothers." Rachel said pulling at the shorts. Noah looked at them, surprisingly for the first time.

"Why not babe I like those shorts?" Noah said smirking at Rachel. She slapped him and he winced pulling into the school. "Don't damage the goods." He said as he got out of the car and walked around to help Rachel out. He pulled their bags out the back and got his letterman jacket out of the back. "Rachel, I was, um wondering if you would, um wear this." Noah said stuffing the jacket into her hands and rubbing the back of his neck. Rachel looked at the jacket and back to Noah.

"I can't do that sorry." Noah's jaw dropped at her answer before she took the jacket out of his hand. "I was kidding baby, of course I will wear your jumper." Rachel pulled the jacket it on and it sat just under her shorts. He took her hand and walked her into school. He smiled at the shocked faces of the student body. "Noah they are all staring at us." Rachel blushed.

"It's cause you're so damn hot, and I am pretty easy on the eye too." Rachel laughed at him until Mercedes and Santana came running over to them.

"One are you two dating again cause that's cute and two we have to get to the choir room, there's been an emergency."


	9. Sue's back

Santana ran off towards the glee room dragging Rachel behind her. Puck and Mercedes walked along behind them. As Rachel got to the door Santana stopped her and gave her a hug. "Brace yourself" she whispered into Rachel's ear before pushing the door open.

"SUPRISE!" everyone jumped up from behind a chair and Rachel felt Noah's arms wrap around her waist. "We wanted to give you a real welcome back to McKinley High not just a crappy assignment off Mr Shuester." Santana said before sitting down next to Mike.

"This is so nice you guys, I can't believe you went to all this trouble for me." Rachel said blushing at the attention she was receiving. Britt who didn't get the memo walked into the room then fixing her hair.

"Oh, you guys remembered that it was my cat's birthday that is so nice." Everyone frowned at the girl's stupidity and Quinn walked over to her and put an arm around her before whispering in her ear. "Oh silly me' the blonde giggled 'welcome back Rachel. Oh cake, my favourite."

The group sat around laughing and having fun. Rachel sat on Noah's lap with Santana, Mike and Finn and Quinn sitting next to them. "Hey wait a second you two are dating." Rachel said pointing at Santana and Mike. Santana shrugged and nodded while Mike blushed. Finn clapped him on the shoulder and Noah bumped fists with him.

"Yeah, so are Aretha and Matt up in the back there." Santana pointed to Mercedes and Matt and Rachel turned around and smiled at them. The bell rang then and everyone stood up to go to class. At that moment Mr Shuester came into the room and motioned for them to all sit back down again.

"Ok so as you know we didn't finish all our assignments last week so they will get finished today. But I have a new one for you. I want you to each sing a song by a solo artist who you loved as a child and then split into three groups of four to sing a song by a band that inspired you also. So pick a partner and then one person will come and pick a name out of a hat to make your groups with." Everyone smiled at the new assignment. It seemed like Stella; Mr Shuester had gotten his groove back.

Rachel walked up to the piano and put her hand into the hat containing the names. Finn who was sitting at the drums started to do a drum roll and everyone joined in. Rachel pulled out the little white piece of paper. She unfolded it and smiled.

"My partner will be Santana!" She cheered the two girls hugged while Noah and Mike gave each other a high five. Finn walked up next.

"Mercedes" he called out. Quinn looked up from her seat next to the drums and smiled at Mercedes who gave her a thumbs up. Britt went to stand up but Kurt stopped her.

"Britt we don't need you to pick a name out a hat because your group is going to be Artie, Tina and Kurt ok?" Mr Shuester explained and Britt smiled before picking up her bag and walking out the door. The rest of the club including Finn followed her out the door.

Rachel stood up and held her pinkie out to Santana who smiled before joining it and the two walked off to their first class with their boyfriends following behind them. Leaving a sad and confused Quinn walking alone to class.

Most of the day passed without a hitch and soon enough lunchtime came. Rachel, Santana and Brittany made their way to the gym to find Quinn already there in her cheerio's uniform. "It's about time you got here. What the hell took you guys so long? We don't have all day, hurry up and get changed." Santana frowned at Quinn but walked away with Britt to get dressed. Rachel stood frowning at Quinn. "What did I stutter Rachel, get dressed."

"What the hell is your problem Quinn, as far as I remember we were fine last night?" Rachel said changing into her dance shorts and singlet top. She sat down to put on her joggers and looked up at Quinn who had her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, well maybe you could be a little bit more gracious to the person who is allowing you to stay in her home Rachel rather than ditch her when a better offer comes along." Quinn said sending a glare to Santana who had just walked into the locker room from the bathroom.

"Are you serious is this about Santana, Quinn I am her friend to not just yours. Don't even start pulling the you should be grateful crap with me Quinn Fabray because you know full well I am. However if this is because Santana and Mike are paired with me and Noah for the club assignment that was fate, we picked out of a hat." Rachel said standing up.

"You and Noah left me to walk to class by myself." Quinn said.

"One we had U.S history you had English and two this is about Noah isn't it? He was your baby daddy but now he is my boyfriend. This doesn't really have anything to do with Santana." Quinn's face flushed as she knew she had been caught out. "Quinn I am not taking him away from you. But you have Finn now. You cannot have them both. Also I am your best friend but I am Santana and Brittany's best friend as well. I am sorry if you felt like you were going to get left out." Rachel wrapped her arms around the blonde girl who started to cry.

"Enough of this sob story I hear your trying out for my cheerleading squad Berry. You better get your annoying behind into that gym this instant." The four girls looked up into the face of one Sue Sylvester.

"Miss Sylvester?" Quinn said, puzzled and confused. "What are you doing here?" she asked as the four girls walked behind her into the gym.

"Your pitiful excuse of a substitute cheerleading coach had a rather unfortunate accident yesterday and will no longer be coaching you. Figgin's called me being ever so desperate and begged I come back and ensure the boosters won't drop you sack of rotten potatoes like a hot tamale. First off Berry show me what you got." Miss Sylvester started the music and Rachel performed a flawless routine leaving the other Cheerio's speechless.

"That wasn't too pitiful, you are on the squad. Second item of interest, every single one of you mouth breathing ferrets will go back to wearing your Cheerio's uniform every day. That is all for today. Here is the deal Quinn Fabray, Santana Lopez, Rachel Berry and Brittany Peirce are your captains. You will come to them with help for routines and daily uniform checks. That is all now go and make yourselves presentable. I will see you ladies tomorrow morning. You four stay. I suppose you want to know why I made you my captains. I need to know that the girls ruling this team will have an iron fist. I can't have the girls coming to you expecting sympathy. I don't allow sympathy or empathy on my teams. So you will be cruel. If a girl doesn't have their correct uniform on you will kick them off the squad. Now get out of my sight."

The girls hurried into the locker room and got changed into their uniforms before grabbing their Cheerio's backpacks and running down the hall to glee fifth period. They ran into the room at the same time practically falling through the door. Everyone turned to look at them. Shocked to see the imposing uniforms gracing their bodies.

"The shit has hit the fan big time. Sylvester is back." Santana said. Everyone's jaws dropped and Mr Shuester groaned before running down the hall to Mr Figgin's office. Everyone began bombarding the Cheerio's with questions and the girls struggled to answer them all at once. Rachel whistled and everyone became quiet instantly. "One at a time everyone" Santana said.

"So you guys are back to the uniform all the time rule?" Kurt asked and the girls nodded. Rachel frowned at Noah when he told Mike he wasn't complaining and he agreed. Noah was instantly quiet.

"Was she majorly pissed off at everyone?" Finn asked. The girls thought about it before shaking their heads slowly.

"She wasn't happy, but then again she never is. But she also wasn't hitting any of us like she used to. She made the four of us captains without making us hurt anyone or anything which is a change." Mr Shuester walked back into the room then followed by Sue Sylvester.

"Hello merry band of misfits, I see my captains have been telling you I am back. I want to let you know that I am no longer hell bent of ruining your club of out of proportion, misfit teenagers dancing around whilst their elderly, curly haired Barry Manillow loving, white boy rapping glee teacher sings to them in a highly inappropriate way. Instead I plan on ruining the life of one Mr Dustin Goolsby Vocal Adrenalines new coach."

"Why do you want to destroy him?" Rachel asked sitting on Noah's knee.

"He took my spot of the channel six news, his whole segment is just wrong and entirely to left of centre for me, Sue Sylvester. So this is why I need your help. If you make sure Vocal Adrenaline lose Goolsby will lose his job and I get my fame and fortune back and I will be well on my way to the keys of my hovercraft. So from now on you can expect the financial backers of the Cheerio's to back New Directions one hundred percent and our choreographers are your choreographers so your routines will be stellar. How does this all sound to you?" The glee kids nodded apprehensively at first but when they saw Mr Shuester was okay with it they were too.


	10. My Girl

"So first course of action, I would like to wave a white flag to my curly haired colleague Mr William Shuester, I hope that over the course of this truce we can come up with a hair do that won't make me vomit in my mouth every time I look at you." Mr Shuester smiled and stuck out his hand for Sue to shake. He knew that was as close to an apology he was going to get.

" Secondly I have picked the most agile and stealth kids I could find to be in our recon team to spy on the bunch of leather pant wearing SUV driving steroid taking performers and their equally as drug enhanced coach. The list goes as follows; Berry, Lopez, Fabray, Other Asian, Mohawk and Frankenteen. Come and talk to me after your practice and we will set a plan in place. Has anyone got any questions or comments?" Britt put up her hand and Sue shook her head bracing herself for the stupidity about to fall out of her mouth.

"Did we get a new kid? Because if we did and he is taking Puck's old style I think someone should let Puck know." Britt looked around the room for a hairstyle that looked like Puck's old one. All she saw however were confused faces.

"Britt, sweetie she meant Noah, but she said Mohawk as a nickname. Just like we call you Britt instead of Brittany got it?" Rachel said slowly watching as everything slowly clicked into place in the blondes head. She smiled and nodded and everyone turned back to the two teachers at the front of the room.

"Ok guys, so your assignment stays but we are going to have an extra meeting tomorrow with Miss Sylvester to discuss what we think some good song ideas are. Alright everyone get to work on your assignment except the six of you that Miss Sylvester pointed out. You guys come over here." Mr Shuester sat on the piano stool while Sue pulled herself up on top of the piano.

"Alright so even though I used to disagree with cheating I want to beat Vocal Adrenaline just as bad a Sue does but for my own reasons that you don't need to worry about. Now I say this afternoon the six of you sneak into Vocal Adrenalines practice. Remember to be quiet and I suggest wearing black."

"Shuester although I feel that plan is good it isn't fully functioning yet. I say we get an amazing number prepared and invite their club over here for one of those fruity invitational things and make them wish we never crossed their paths." Mr Shuester nodded and the six 'spies' stood waiting to be dismissed.

"Alright guys report back to me tomorrow morning and we will see how your afternoon went. Go and work on your assignments." Mr Shuester dismissed them. Sue grabbed her clipboard and stood up to leave.

"I want those Cheerio's in correct uniform tomorrow without a crease. If I so much as smell a loose hair I will bring my wrath down on the four of you. Do you understand that girl's?" The four girls nodded before turning back to their groups to work on their assignment.

That night at 5:30 Rachel, Quinn and Santana stood outside the front of the Fabray home waiting for the boys. Rachel was wearing a pair of black leggings, a black tank top and a leather jacket, she had canvas shoes on her feet and her hair was hanging around her shoulders. Santana was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans and a black William McKinley sweat shirt that Rachel guessed belonged to Mike judging by the number 16 on the back. She had her hair pulled back into a messy bun and was wearing a pair of black converse high tops. Quinn was wearing a black high skirt that fell to her knees with a pair of black stockings underneath. She wore a black off the shoulder shirt with white stripes through it and a black cardigan. Her long blonde hair was out but pulled back with a black headband and she had a pair of ballet flats on.

Rachel looked at her watch. Vocal adrenaline started practice in five minutes. Rachel went to pull out her phone but Mikes black SUV pulled up right on time. The girls jumped in and they sped off to Carmel High School. They parked in the back of the lot and snuck forward through the shadows until they reached the auditorium. Noah grabbed Rachel's hand and pulled her back before she snuck through the door.

He smiled at her and looked like he was about to say something but she kissed him instead. He was momentarily startled but he started kissing her back and his fingers tangled in her hair. She pushed him back a second later.

"Umm what was that for?" Noah asked her still holding her close to him. Rachel shrugged her shoulders and blushed. Noah kissed her cheek again before leaning over to her ear. "You look hot in your spy clothes." Rachel giggled and pulled him in the auditorium to hide.

They crouched behind the seats and listened as the new coach went psycho at the team. He stalked back to his seat and the room filled with music. Rachel and Santana gasped, Quinn shook her head and the boys groaned. "They are doing an Usher mash-up. Why have we never done an Usher mash-up? It would have been great." DJ's got us falling in love again filled the room and the kids glared at Jesse St James as he took the lead.

When the song ended the coach stormed up the stairs and the kids sunk lower to the floor. They waited for the club to leave the room before they made their way back to Mike's car. "They aren't as good as they used to be." Mike said.

"Yeah, I think that kid that used to go to our school and then transferred here finally quit so they don't have him doing the triple back flip thing anymore. It doesn't look finished now. It looks like a bunch of talented kids dancing around in a circle. Back flip kid used to tie that shit together." Noah said. Rachel hit his arm.

"Don't swear. We have to get home guys, we need an early night's sleep we have practice tomorrow morning." Rachel said hurrying everyone to the car. "S are you staying at Quinn's place tonight?" Santana nodded and Mike drove out of the car park in the direction of the Fabray home.

Two hours later the girls sat sweating in the Fabray gym. Their hair was stuck to their heads however they were positive they had lost a few grams. They slowly made their way across the basement to the dance studio.

"Ok so we have to work on Cheerio's routines and learn the choreography for my glee performance which I will be doing tomorrow. I think two days is long enough to wait." Rachel said as she stretched.

"What song are you doing?" Santana asked her. Rachel stood up and lifted her leg above her head. The other girls looked shocked. They were flexible, but not that flexible.

"I was thinking of doing California girls. By the way, we should go on a glee holiday. My daddies have holiday houses like everywhere." Santana and Quinn nodded and they set to work on their Cheerio's routines. Three hours later they had finished Rachel's choreography and it was ready to perform.

"I am starving; you do not understand how hungry I am." Santana said as they walked upstairs. The house was dark as Isabella had a date and wasn't home yet. The girls walked past the lounge room and screamed when they saw three dark shapes sitting on the lounge.

"See you are a douche bag Finn I told you they would be scared." Noah said as he tried to make his way to Rachel.

"Yeah way to fucking go Finnessa." Mike said as he switched on the light. The boys gasped when they saw how little clothing the girls had on. Just a sports bra and a pair of dance shorts. Noah gave Rachel a hug but she was still a little bit scared. Santana went to sit with Mike.

"I'm sorry baby, it was Finn's idea. He thought it would be really funny. I didn't mean to scare you." Rachel nodded then yawned. "We can go if you are tired." Noah said. Rachel shook her head and walked into the kitchen where she was joined by Noah a minute later.

"I am just going to get some food and then go up to my room. Are you spending the night?" Rachel asked him as she pulled a fruit salad and a tub of yoghurt out of the fridge. Noah nodded and grabbed a spoon and a fork. They said goodnight to their friends before they went upstairs.

Rachel flicked her television on before sitting down on her bed. Noah sat down next to her and flicked through the channels on the TV. "Hey do you think this whole Miss Sylvester thing is a little bit suspicious?" Rachel asked Noah. He shook his head before muting the television.

"Nope, I think she is a pissed of woman who will use us to achieve her spot on the six o'clock news back before setting out to ruin our glee club yet again. I think you need to be careful but, I don't need you tiring yourself out with glee, captaining Cheerio's, dance and vocal lessons and hanging out with me. You need to look after yourself." Rachel nodded giving him a quick kiss.

"I need a shower; I will just be a minute." Rachel got her shower stuff together and Noah sat watching a rerun of the Simpsons. When the ads came on he looked on the nightstand and saw a scrapbook. It was purple with yellow stars and it Rachel embroidered on the bottom.

He opened it to the first page and saw Rachel and her father's at her first singing competition; it went along through different competitions, plays, family holidays and school photos. Finally about ten pages from the end were the New Directions photos. It seemed Rachel had done the scrapbook to ensure Noah would be on every page. There he was doing I Wanna Sex You Up, in his cowboy costume, singing Sweet Caroline, sectionals, in his kiss outfit, singing Beth and all suited up for Regional's. He smiled looking at all the hard work she had gone to.

He braced himself for the photos that were going to come next. The first two pages were Rachel with her California friends, wearing a blue and yellow cheerleading uniform. He noticed in the photos as she got skinnier and skinnier, obviously conforming to what her friends wanted. He turned the page again and was met with the smiling face of his daughter.

She was pulling Rachel's hair with a badass smirk on her face. Rachel was smiling but trying not to cry. There were a few photos of Rachel and Shelby, Noah was shocked at the resemblance between the two and didn't know how he hadn't noticed it. He looked to the last page and saw the only photo of Quinn, Beth and himself in existence. He felt tears burn his eyes.

Rachel stood at her bathroom door. She had been watching him for a little while. She saw him smile through the glee club photos, frown at the worryingly skinny photos of herself in California, beam proudly at the pictures of Rachel and Beth and finally he was looking at the final photo. She walked over to her desk as he started to cry. She picked up a black and white photo and sat down next to him on the bed.

The sobs wracked through him, it hurt more than anything to think he had given his baby girl up. He felt Rachel pull the scrapbook out his hands and she sat next to him. Not saying anything, allowing him to have a moment to himself. He wiped his eyes and sighed. She put a photo in his hands, but he didn't look at it.

"It's ok to cry Noah. What you did was the right thing for Beth. You know Shelby will be a good mother to her no matter what.' She watched as a single tear rolled down his cheek. She wiped it away with her thumb. He opened his eyes and smiled weakly. Rachel didn't buy his smile and threw her arms around his neck as he started to cry again. Rachel started to sing to him and she waited until his breathing had evened out until she pulled back.

"Baby you know that in ten years from now, Beth is going to want to know you, and she won't hold anything against you or Quinn. You know that Beth will be thankful that you let her have a stable lifestyle with Shelby. You are the bravest man I have ever met and when the time is right you are going to be the greatest father to any children you have and Beth. You need to talk to someone about this, it isn't good to bottle it up." Noah nodded his head and for the first time looked at the photo that had been placed in his hand.

It was a photo that Shelby must have taken. Beth was asleep on the lounge and Rachel was kissing her on the fore head. Noah traced his finger over every line in the photo. "You're amazing." He said to Rachel. She shrugged and he smiled. "Really Rachel, you take on sharing your mother with your tormentor's baby, it must have been hard and you just took it in your stride. Then you lose your mum and come back here confident, as if you have had the greatest life in the world. You are seriously the best girlfriend anyone in the history of all time has ever had." He went to give her the photo.

"I made that copy for you, I have heaps more and I thought you might want one, for your room or whatever." Noah smiled again and Rachel laid back on her pillows. He looked at the photos again before looking back to Rachel smiling when he saw her fast asleep. He ran his fingers over the photo again. "My girls" he whispered before turning off the light and walking through to his bedroom.


	11. Rachel's performance

Rachel woke an hour later with a pain in her neck. She rolled over and felt an empty bed. She didn't know if she had expected Noah to stay there but she had wanted him to. She rolled over and tried to go back to sleep but it didn't come. She groaned and walked through the bathroom to go into Noah's bedroom. He was asleep with the television on.

Rachel walked over to his bed and shook his shoulder hoping to wake him up, but to no avail. She turned to walk out of the room. "Rachel" Noah whispered in his sleep however when she turned around he was wiping the sleep from his eyes.

"Sorry, I woke up and thought you would be there but you weren't, so I came in here to see if you were awake or not. I was just going to go back to sleep. I am sorry for waking you up." She turned around again.

"Rachel you can sleep in my bed, if you want to." He folded the other side of the blanket down and she ran back to the bed jumping in quickly. Noah pressed a kiss to her fore head and wrapped his arms around her. "I love you." Noah said before falling back to sleep. Rachel was asleep within seconds.

Noahs alarm went off at six the next morning and Rachel disentangled herself from his strong arms to get ready. She went into her bedroom and pulled on the red and white cheerio's uniform. She tied up her runners and went into the bathroom to put her hair into a high ponytail and curl the ends. She quickly applied some makeup and brushed her teeth before running down stairs to pack everyone's schoolbags and make some breakfast.

She ran into Isabella as she was leaving for work who gave her a kiss on the cheek before running out the door and promising to be home in time for dinner. Rachel made herself a mango smoothie, Quinn and Santana a banana smoothie and the three boys a cappuccino. She put each drink into a thermos before making French toast. Once she had plated everything she ran upstairs knocking three times on each bedroom door. She heard grumbles in response but was happy everyone was up and getting ready for school.

She ran back downstairs to load everything into the dishwasher and felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist. "Morning," Rachel said as Noah kissed her on the cheek. She heard everyone else walk into the kitchen. Noah spun around keeping Rachel in her arms as everyone sat down at the table.

"Wow Rachel what time did you wake up?" Finn asked taking a mouthful of French toast. "Oh My God this is fantastic." Rachel smiled happy everyone enjoyed her cooking.

"Well I woke up at six and figured I may as well make everyone's breakfast and I packed all your lunches and there is a smoothie for Santana and Quinn and a coffee for all you guys next to your bags. So once you have eaten and given me your plates we can go." Noah kissed her on the cheek again before going to sit down at the table.

One by one people finished and Rachel finished loading everything into the dishwasher and wiped down the benches. As she walked to go into the lounge room she walked into a conversation. "Wow Puckerman how the hell did you end up with a girlfriend like Rachel?" Santana asked. Rachel stopped and stood behind the bi-fold doors.

"I have absolutely no idea what I did but I am pretty freaking lucky, she is amazing isn't she?" Rachel smiled to herself. She head murmurs of yes. She decided then to stop eavesdropping and walked into the lounge room. "Are you guys ready to go to school?" Everyone nodded and headed out the door.

"Rachel can we take your car?" Rachel nodded and said goodbye to everyone else who headed to Mike's car. Rachel slid easily into the yellow mini cooper whilst Noah adjusted himself and the seat awkwardly into the small car.

"Why are taking my car? I mean I don't have a problem with it at all, I am just wondering." Rachel said waiting for Mike to back out the driveway before following after him. Noah smiled at her before contorting his body more to get comfortable.

"We're going out tonight baby. I don't really know if you will enjoy it but it is one of my favourite things and I want to share it with you. We have to go for a bit of a drive but, are you up for it?" Rachel nodded before realising what she was wearing.

"So if we are going for a bit of a drive we have to leave straight after school right?" Noah nodded. "What am I going to wear?" Rachel said. She expected Noah to look sad instead he smiled and unzipped his schoolbag before pulling out a pair of jeans and a white top and a pair of ballet flats.

"These will do as long as you have my jacket. We are going to have heaps of fun I promise you." Rachel nodded before pulling into the school parking lot. Rachel saw the Cheerio's heading to the field so she kissed Noah quickly before grabbing her bag and running to the field. Quinn, Santana and Brittany were lining all the girls up to do a uniform check.

Rachel walked along with her clipboard checking for skirt length and correct shoes as well as the ponytails being tight and curled. She reached one of the other senior Cheerio's. She ticked every box except for skirt length. Rachel smiled at the girl.  
"Sweetie can you just pull your skirt down for me a little bit. It is like a centimetre to short." Rachel said nicely. Santana, Quinn and Britt had finished their rounds and were standing next to Coach Sylvester watching Rachel.

"No, my skirt is a fine length. I always wear it at this length. So sweetie I don't know why you think you are the top dog because you are popular since you came home and started screwing Noah Puckerman but I sure as hell won't take orders from you thanks." Santana, Quinn and Britt went to walk over to the girl and Rachel but Sylvester held them back, wanting to see her new head cheerio handle the situation. The girl had since been joined by two friends who were backing her up. Rachel looked down at her clipboard before smiling at the three girls.

"Sophia Mitchells, Daisy Jackson and Jacqueline Fisher that's correct right?" the girls nodded. "Yeah I really hate to do this because your such great cheerleaders all three of you, but Sophia I won't stand for slutty behaviour on my cheerleading squad your gone. Daisy and Jacqueline, if you still want to be on the squad by the end of the day I want three laps of the oval and one hundred push ups. If I so much as see you stop to have a drink your off my squad. Got it?" the two girls nodded and took off at a run. "Sophia what are you doing here, I have a practice going and I made it clear. You're off the squad. Hand your uniform in tomorrow morning." The girl ran off crying and the whole squad was looking at Rachel scared.

Quinn, Britt, Santana and Coach Sylvester had equally proud smiles on their faces. "Let this be a lesson to all of you, I am a captain of this squad because I am a good cheerleader. Not because I best friends with those three girls up there, or screwing Noah Puckerman. If you want to remain on this squad you will listen to what I say otherwise leave the field now. I'm not overstepping my boundaries am I Coach?" Sylvester shook her head and smirked at Rachel who turned back to the girls. "You have three seconds to leave. Three, two, one. Ok let's get down to business."  
****

Noah was across the field doing football drills. He wasn't concentrating very much as his eyes kept drifting to Rachel who was leading her first practice. He watched as she walked up and down a line ticking off girls uniforms. It wasn't until she got up to that Sophia chick was totally obsessed with him that she encountered a problem. He stood up and gave the ball to Finn getting ready to run if Rachel looked upset. She handled herself fine and Noah turned back around until he heard the words screwing Noah Puckerman come out of her mouth. In fact the whole football team heard it and they all started clapping Noah on the back.

He went back to practice and he finished ten minutes before the girls so he went to have a shower emerging to find Rachel drinking out of his water bottle. He ran up behind her grabbed her around the waist, spinning her around as she squealed. "Are you drinking out of my water bottle right now seriously?" Rachel nodded before winking at him and drinking more of his water. He grabbed the bottle out of her hand before drinking the rest of it.

"So how was practice?" Rachel asked. Noah shrugged his shoulders before smirking at her. He chuckled to himself and she looked at him like he was insane. When they reached their bags he picked up his and hers before walking to the entrance of the school.

"Yours sounded more interesting. I hear your screwing someone by the name of Noah Puckerman, and here I was thinking you were my one and only. Who is this fellow?" Rachel laughed.

"Oh you don't know him. But he is totally hot, has a rocking body and is actually good at football. He doesn't play for a crappy team like the McKinley Titans. But Puck don't let it bother you, one day you might just be as cool as him." Noah pretended to laugh at her before she ran down the hall and he chased after her. He caught her as she turned to go into the girl's bathroom.

"Oh funny Berry got a sense of humour now have we?" Rachel nodded and Noah kissed her. They made out until Santana walked past holding hands with Mike.

"Get a room you filthy whore. I can't believe you're screwing Puckerman to be popular." She laughed as Rachel gave her the finger.

"Hey Lopez I can't believe you are only going out with Mike because Britt didn't want you anymore." Santana pretended to look hurt but laughed when Rachel poked her tongue out. Mike and Noah laughed at their girlfriends and walked off to homeroom together.

The school day passed without a hitch. Rachel, Santana, Quinn walked into glee club at lunch time smiling and laughing, with their costumes in their hand. Mr Shuester and Coach Sylvester were talking at the piano. Rachel cleared her throat as she walked in. The two teachers looked at her.

"Mr Shuester, I refuse to let this glee meeting go by without doing my performance. After we have done it we will brief you on what we found out yesterday." Mr Shuester nodded and cleared his throat awkwardly and Sylvester smirked and felt proud that such a powerful girl was now a cheerleader.

The girls came back into the room dressed in their costumes. They stood in the middle of the room and Rachel cleared her throat the room went silent. They had on a pair of denim daisy dukes with a bikini top on and a plaid button up shirt tied over their belly buttons. On their feet they wore a pair of converse high tops in different colours and their hair was down with their fringes braided away from their eyes.

"Hot damn." Whispered Mike and Noah and Finn nodded in approval. The girls smiled and looked at Mr Shuester who nodded for them to begin. The music for California girls started and the three girls started to dance. As the song came to an end the girls received a standing ovation.  
"Girls that was amazing. I am so proud of the three of you." Mr Shuester smiled and clapped and Ms Sylvester even gave a small nodded. "Now, down to business what did you uncover yesterday?" The group sat around to listen to the six 'spies'.

"They are doing Usher Mr Shuester, like a mash-up of his biggest hits and it is honestly amazing, Jesse truly sounds great." Rachel said sitting down on Noah's lap. Mr Shuester shook his head. Ms Sylvester looked kind of confused.

"You mean to tell me that a pimply child who sits you down at a cinema has big hits?" Everyone tried to hide a laugh. Artie clicked a few buttons on his phone and Usher started going off in the room. After a minute Sue held up her hand. "I get it wheels, he is a big hit. So what's your plan Shuester?"

"We could always do this glee assignment and then come up with another artist who is just as big and do a mash-up. We could do a Beyonce mash-up." Mike said. Mr Shuester looked at him with adoration in his eyes.

"Chang, bro that is the best idea you have ever had." Noah said. The bell rang and they all stood to leave. Rachel, Quinn and Santana ducked into the closest bathroom to get changed again. When they were done the club moved off to lunch.


	12. Date night

Rachel sat down in between Quinn and Santana while Noah went to get her a drink to go with the lunch she had packed them. The glee club were sitting around talking when Brittany walked up pulling a blonde guy along. She sat down and pulled her with him.

"Hey Britt who is this?" Quinn asked. Britt smiled before putting her head on the guys shoulder. He just smiled and the team took notice of his extremely large mouth.

"I'm Sam Evans, Brittany's cousin. I just transferred here, she told me she was going to tell you all that I was coming." The boy said, Britt shrugged before opening a packet of jelly beans. "Bee you're not supposed to be eating sugar it messes with your diabetes. One more jelly bean and then give me the packet." Britt took a blue jelly bean and handed the packet over to Sam.

"Britt when did you get diagnosed with diabetes. Why the hell didn't you tell us?" Santana yelled. Britt furrowed her brow trying to think of when the medical diagnosis had been given to her.

"She has had it since we were ten. You mean she never told you guys?" Sam said shaking his head, trying not to laugh. The guys walked over and Puck did a double take. There was a random blonde guy sitting next to Brittany that had an extremely large mouth. He handed Rachel her orange juice and made her stand up before sitting her back down on his lap.

"Noah this is Sam Britt's cousin. Did you know Britt has diabetes?" Noah nodded and everyone stared at him strangely.

"My mum is a doctor douche bags and this is freaking Lima there is about two of them here. Sam nice to meet you bro. Where did you live before here?" Noah asked. Sam opened his really big mouth to speak but Brittany beat him to it.

"Sam has never lived in one place for more than six months. He was in Australia until last week and France before that. But now his mum wants him to get a good schooling because he is dyslexic and I don't know what that is but my Mum said he needs help with his English work but not as much as me." Everyone nodded at Britt and looked to Sam for an explanation that made more sense.

"My mother is a travel journalist. She works for Lonely Planet, my Dad, died when I was two so I didn't really have a choice but to go with her. School on the road was hard as anything so Aunty Caroline told my mum I could live with her until I finish school. And I missed my Bee-Bee." He gave Britt a cuddle and she smiled before her boyfriend walked over and she got up and waved goodbye to everyone to join him at his table.

"I guess I will go sit over there with the kid with the Jew-fro that showed me around this morning." Sam grabbed his tray and stood up to go. Rachel gasped at the fate Sam would meet if he was seen sitting with Jacob Ben-Israel. He would get slushied more than she ever had. Noah heard her gasp.

"Bro, sit your bleached blonde ass back down. So dude what do you do?"

"Umm, well I play football. I'm pretty bitchin at it really. And I am a pretty badass singer, oh and I can play like a freaking ton of instruments." Sam said smiling.

"How many instruments is a ton?" Kurt said with his eyes narrowed.

"Well I have played the mandolin, guitar, piano and the drums since I was six. When I was ten I learnt the flute, clarinet and saxophone and when I was in France I learnt the harp for the hell of it and in Australia I learnt the didgeridoo because it looked really fun. So yeah I play like eight instruments. That's a lot right?" Rachel nodded her head so fast it looked like it might fall off.

"You said you could sing, you have to join glee club. Like immediately." Rachel said. Sam nodded.

"You should get this other new girl to join. Her name is Sunshine, she is a transfer student from the Philippines. This morning in Figgin's office she was singing along to her IPod and it was freaking amazing." Everyone nodded and the group continued chatting happily until the bell rang for the last class of the day.

"Well Sam we have glee tomorrow afternoon so I will see you then, if I don't see you before." Rachel said before walking off to her advanced English class with Quinn. Puck and Sam had history together and they walked off chatting about football and other boyish things.

The bell rang for the end of school and Rachel ran out to her car, seeing Noah was already there. She walked up and kissed him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and spun her around. "You ready to go baby?" He said once he had pulled away. She nodded and got in the passenger's side, while Noah walked over to the driver's side. They talked about everything and nothing while they drove. An hour later Noah was pulling into a stadium. There were tons of people all of them in brown and yellow jerseys. Noah smiled slightly at Rachel. She looked around confused and then looked at him smiling.

"YOU'RE TAKING ME TO A FOOTBALL GAME! NOAH I LOVE THE FOOTBALL!" Rachel undid her belt and leant across the middle console and hugged him. He chuckled and kissed the top of her head. "That's why you bought me a plain coloured shirt you didn't want me to look like the opposing team." Noah nodded and hopped out the car. She was still wearing her Cheerio's uniform so she quickly grabbed the other clothing out of Noah's bag putting them in her own before following him.

"Just so I can be clear you go for the Bears right?" Rachel asked grabbing his hand. Noah looked at her. "Because I do and I don't want any conflict between us, because we go for opposing football teams.

"What other team is there babe?" Rachel smiled and headed off towards a bathroom while Noah waited next to the door. Rachel came out and Noah smiled appreciatively at the way her clothing hugged her body. She had her wallet in her hands. "Baby, I am paying tonight. I was the one to take you on a date remember?"

"Besides being entirely old fashioned and a little bit chauvinistic it's sweet. But I was going to buy a jersey. I know your wearing yours under you over shirt Noah; I can see it hanging out of the bottom. I'm not making you pay for a jersey, they are like really expensive." Noah bit his lip before putting his hand in his pocket. He pulled out a brown and yellow shiny material.

"I already got you one. Rachel I'm sorry, the money isn't a problem but because I actually bought it for my sister but she decided she is to cool to watch football all of a sudden. So I thought seeing as though you are so small you will fit. Is that ok?" Rachel nodded her head and smiled.

"It doesn't matter as long as you didn't buy it for me." She pulled it over her white shirt and pulled the hair tie from her hair letting it fall loose around her shoulders. She tied the shirt up at the back and rolled the sleeves. Once she was ready she grabbed Noah's hand and walked towards the ticket booth.

They had gotten there early so there wasn't much of a line. Noah bought the tickets and led Rachel to their seats. "Are you hungry?" Rachel nodded as she sat down. "What do you want for dinner; I was just going to get a burger and coke."

"Just get a burger meal and I will have the chips. Can you get me an extra can of coke?" Noah nodded leaving Rachel at the seats and walking down the stairs. Rachel pulled her phone out and texted Quinn, letting her know where she was and that she would probably just stay at her house with Noah after. Quinn sent her a message back telling her to have fun and she would see her at school. Noah walked back and sat down next to her, handing her the food and drinks.

"RACHEL!" She turned around as she heard her name being called and she jumped up when she saw who it was. A small blonde girl wearing a New York jersey tucked in to high waisted shorts came running down the stairs. Noah let Rachel pass and she gave the tiny girl a hug. They started talking a mile a minute and Noah strained his ears to catch who she was. Soon enough the girl pointed to him and Rachel turned around.

"Oh my how rude of me. This is my boyfriend Noah Puckerman. Noah this is Wilhelmina Stevens, but we call her Mina. Her Dad's are really close to my Dads, so we have been really good friends forever. Actually you two probably sort of know each other. She was in kindergarten with us Noah." Noah tried to think of who the girl was but she beat him to it.

"Ah Noah Puckerman, you might remember me better as Bubblegum Hair, that's what you and Karofsky used to call me after you stuck a packet of gum in my hair and I had to chop it all off." Noah's face turned scarlet.

"Don't embarrass him Mina, he has really changed alright. Now I think you should go back to your seat and I will talk to you when I am not so angry that you offended my boyfriend." Rachel sat back down and the other girl walked away, leaving Noah smiling in admiration at his badass girlfriend.


	13. authors note

Hey Guys,

I am so sorry I haven't updated in forever. I have had some personal issues that have required my full attention and I haven't been able to even look at writing anymore of this. However now it has my full attention

So you may have noticed I deleted a chapter- I no longer liked the direction I had taken with the story so I decided to go back a chapter and do it again

love all of you who kept reading and commenting on this even though I wasn't updating you're fantastic.


	14. Would Noah become Puck?

Noah had never been more proud of Rachel as he was at that football game. Not only had she cheered her team on like a champ, she told a member of the crowd in front of them to 'Sit down before she shoved her foot so far up his ass he would be eating her toenails for breakfast'.

Their team hadn't won but Noah for the first time ever didn't even care. He walked out of the stadium laughing at Rachel as she pouted. She unlike Noah cared very much that her team had lost.

"Baby its ok for us to lose; we're still the best team in the competition." Noah said rubbing his thumb across the back of her hand. Rachel shook her head.

"I know Noah; I just wanted them to win so badly- do you know I've never been to a football game? I watch them on television mainly so I would understand what was going on when I went to school games but that was my first real game, and I wanted them to win so badly." Rachel said her voice cracking at the end.

They reached Rachel's little car and Noah unlocked the driver's side door; he hopped in and leant across to let Rachel inside. "Okie Dokie Rachie Pie where to now?" Noah said smiling at her as she put her seat belt on. She giggled and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek.

"Let's go to mine, and then we can go back to Quinn's in the morning. Does that sound good to you?" Noah nodded and drove the distance back to her house. By the time he got there Rachel was snoring soundly in the seat next to him. He walked around to her door and picked her up, she woke up dazed and confused.

"Noah, where are we?" She tried to get out of his arms but he held onto her as he climbed the stairs to her front door. He smiled down at her seeing her rubbing her eyes, sleep still in them.

"Its fine baby, I've got you. We're at your house, where do you keep the spare key?" Rachel mumbled something about a gap in the window ledge and he put his fingers into what he thought she may have been talking about pulling out the small silver key.

He walked inside and had to put her down to find the light switch. She stumbled and he wrapped his arms around her small waist. When he turned the light on and locked the front door again, he found she was wide awake staring at him with a strange look in her eyes.

"What's wrong Rac? She attacked his lips with her own. He pressed her up against the back of the door meeting her urgency with his own kisses. He was the one that ended it when he felt her grind up against him, "Rach, what are you doing?" She bit her lip and didn't answer his question.

After what felt like a century but was really only a few seconds Rachel looked back up at him. She looked embarrassed and he smiled softly at her- unsure of what was going on through her head.

"I'm sorry Noah; I don't know what came over me. You were just so sweet organising this whole night and then carrying me up the stairs and I know you don't expect any sort of sexual activity but I also know that you know I'm not a virgin and so I don't know if that means you will expect some sort of intimacy between us sooner on, but I lost my virginity because I was scared of what would happen to me in California if I didn't and I just don't think I'm ready yet to commit completely to a-' this time Noah's lips cut her off. Their kiss was different this time, sweet and soft until Noah pulled away.

"Baby, there was nothing for you to be sorry about. In fact if anyone should apologise it should be me for making you think you had to have sex with me. We've only been dating for like a week. I've waited for you for a year and a half I think I can wait another six months or six weeks if that's how long it takes. Not to say I don't want to have sex with you because believe me baby I definitely, really do. But never do I ever want you to think that I am with you for that reason ok? Are we good?" Rachel nodded and he smiled before laughing when she yawned.

"I think its bed time huh?" Noah said and Rachel nodded before dragging him up to her bedroom. The two fell asleep wrapped in one another's arms, the previous conversation bringing them closer together instead of further apart.

"So he took you to a football game?" Santana said as she walked with Quinn and Rachel into the choir room that morning. Rachel nodded sipping from her thermos. The coffee seeped through her and she warmed at the caffeine flooding through her body. She was truly overtired, her date with Noah last night had caused her to sleep through first period that morning and she woke at 10:30 rushing to school. Noah had left without a note, or without waking her up for that instance and she hadn't seen him all morning. Needless to say she was worried. "I'm just speaking for myself and possibly every other female in the world but if my boyfriend took me to a football game I would be pissed off." Santana said as she took her seat.

"Speak for yourself , if Matt takes me to a football game I will be thrilled. At least we would be going somewhere, the furthest we have gone on a date so far is the Chucky Cheese, and that's only because breadsticks was full." Mercedes said shaking her head.

"Yeah Mercedes is right, if Finn took me to a football game I'd be happy cause it would mean that Finn would have taken me anywhere. God that boy works as a mechanic part time and believe me Burt pays him really well. He could take me on a day trip to wherever he wanted and I would be happy, I'm just so sick of having to plan things myself." Quinn said, a small frown gracing her perfect features.

"I think it's understandable when I say that Artie has trouble taking me places, but even then if he just planned a romantic dinner at his house I would be thrilled. All we ever do is sit and listen to 90's r'n'b songs and I watch Artie play COD." Tina said from her spot in the corner.

"COD, every woman's nightmare, all Douglas does is play that stupid game, I don't even understand it." Everyone stared open mouthed at Britt after she spoke; her fluent sentence had caused some serious confusion amongst the girls of the glee club. Brittany's smart moment was broken however when she went back to eating her Twizzlers and colouring in her daffy duck colouring in book.

"Noah's sweet, I mean we having been dating that long, but he cares about things. He planned our football date, when he made my lunch for school the other day he cut my apple lengthways because he found out I preferred it like that. He's sweet."

"Honeymoon phase,' Quinn said, 'it will pass once he gets in your pants. Not saying he will love you any less in fact he will probably love you more, but the cute gestures- they disappear." The other girls nodded and Rachel looked worried.

The boys walked in then effectively ending any conversation. As Noah sat next to Rachel handing her an orange juice she wondered if the girls were right, would he be sweet up until she gave it up. And when she did, what would happen after that. Would her Noah become Puck?


End file.
